Real-Time Tracking of Viral Outbreaks: Emma Hodcroft on The Long Run

Today’s guest on The Long Run is Emma Hodcroft.

Emma Hodcroft, molecular epidemiologist, University of Basel; co-developer, NextStrain.
Photo: Oliver Hochstrasser / www.oliverhochstrasser.ch

Emma is a molecular epidemiologist at the University of Basel, and the co-developer of Nextstrain.

NextStrain is the open-source toolkit built for real-time tracking of viral outbreaks. In the early days, teams led by Trevor Bedford at Fred Hutch and Richard Neher in Basel used it to track viral evolution of Ebola and Zika. Over time, the resource has been adapted to study flu, and now – of course — SARS-CoV-2.

Lots of questions remain about this virus. It’s brand new to science. But a fair bit of what we do know from the early days can be attributed to Nextstrain.

This resource provides real-time information on where community transmission of the virus is occurring, where certain variations are coming from, the estimated size and scope of the outbreak, and more.

It’s a treasure trove. The whole world is watching.

In this episode, Emma provides clear, simple explanations of the basics of viral family trees, what we can learn from them, and what kinds of things we hope to learn later this year.

The Long Run is sponsored by RareCyte.

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