Marco Salemi, PhD
Assistant Professor
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Dept. of Pathology, Immunology and Laboratory Medicine |
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Primary Area of Research:
The last 25 years have witnessed an unprecedented development of molecular evolution, phylogenetic and population genetic methods. On one hand, the advent of PCR technologies has allowed for the generation and rapid accumulation of nucleotide sequence data from many organisms including several eukaryotic species, bacteria, viruses and eventually the full human genome. On the other hand, the increase in computational speed of computer clusters, as well as desktop and laptop computers, has allowed for the implementation of sophisticated algorithms that would not have been computationally feasible just two decades ago.
The discovery of fast evolving viruses, such as HIV and HCV, poses special challenges to evolutionary theory. The understanding of both inter- and intra-host evolution of these viruses is crucial and has broad applications ranging from molecular epidemiology, to drug resistance, pathogenesis, and forensics.
Molecular evolution of pathogenic viruses includes experimental work to isolate and sequence viral strains from different hosts or from the same host over time, DNA and RNA sequencing techniques, as well as the development and application of phylogenetic and population genetic methods to gain insights on the interplay between viral evolutionary patterns, origin and spread of epidemic outbreaks and pathogenesis.
Related Links:
Joe Felsenstein's Phylogeny Programs Webpage
Oxford Molecular Evolution Group
Molecular Evolution, Phylogenetics and Epidemiology, University of Edinburgh UK
BioAfrica: Bioinformatics for HIV Research