Colin A. Russell

Long-term experimental evolution of seasonal influenza A/H3N2 virus reveals diverse evolutionary potential

This study shows that A/H3N2 influenza virus evolves differently in independent human airway cultures, with limited parallelism and novel mutations, suggesting evolutionary paths are influenced by selective context rather than intrinsic constraints.

Evolution of Omicron lineage towards increased fitness in the upper respiratory tract in the absence of severe lung pathology

This study evaluates the fitness and pathogenesis of Omicron variants in the upper and lower respiratory tracts, finding increased URT fitness with reduced lung pathology.

N-glycolylneuraminic acid binding of avian H7 influenza A viruses

The paper investigates how avian H7 influenza A viruses can bind NeuGc through specific mutations, revealing insights into viral adaptation to NeuGc receptors.

Inferring putative transmission clusters with Phydelity

Phydelity identifies transmission clusters in pathogen phylogenies without arbitrary distance thresholds, showing improved purity and lower misclassification in simulations and empirical datasets.

Phylogenetic Clustering by Linear Integer Programming (PhyCLIP)

PhyCLIP provides a statistically principled phylogenetic clustering framework without arbitrary distance thresholds, improving resolution of pathogen subpopulations.