Katie Koelle, Microbiology and Molecular Genetics; Population Biology; Ecology and Evolution, Emory University

Abstract : The unfolding of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic led to tremendous sequencing efforts, with tens of millions of viral sequences now publicly available on platforms such as GISAID for quantitative analysis by researchers worldwide. These sequences can be informative of the timing of viral emergence in regions, patterns of geographic spread, epidemiological dynamics, and viral adaptation. They can also be informative of the ways in which viral populations evolve at various scales, from within-host, to between-host, to the host population level. In this talk, I will first present some of my group’s recent work on using SARS-CoV-2 sequence data to infer early viral invasion dynamics into a region when viral genetic diversity is still extremely limited. I will then present our research focused on using SARS-CoV-2 sequence data from established transmission pairs to quantify natural exposure doses and therewith to assess the plausibility that dose could impact the severity of a COVID infection.