Prof. Dr. Tanja Stadler

Area of Research

Description of Research Interest

Many pathogens show a substantial amount of genetic variation over the course of an epidemic. This is especially true for pathogens such as RNA viruses, which have short generation times and high mutation rates. In this case, epidemiological and evolutionary dynamics occur on the same timescale and we can use phylogenetic methods to reconstruct a phylogeny from sampled pathogen sequences. This phylogeny represents an approximation to the true transmission tree of the epidemic.
By incorporating classic epidemiological models into phylogenetic inference we are able to quantify the epidemiological dynamics (i.e. transmission and recovery) of the pathogen. Such an approach allows us to assess factors responsible for the epidemic spread, such as the importance of population structure or superspreaders. We can also assess the effectiveness of public health policies in bringing the epidemic under control by looking at changes in the epidemiological parameters over time. These inferences are important for a well-informed public health response. In particular, by developing and using such approaches, we obtained a better understanding of the spread of e.g. SARS-CoV-2, Influenza, RSV, Ebola, Zika, Rabies, HIV, HCV, and Tuberculosis.

Special Expertise

Phylogenetics
Phylodynamics
Molecular epidemiology

Shareable Platforms, Services, Equipment & Infrastructure

Developments for BEAST2 (https://www.beast2.org/)
Founder of the BEAST2 teaching platform (https://taming-the-beast.org/)