peopleCadhla Ramsden
Graduate Student
Email: cbr134@psu.edu
Phone: 814-863-6471
Fax: 814-865-9131
Office: 612 Mueller Laboratory
Research
I am interested in understanding what facilitates the successful emergence and establishment of infectious diseases in human populations. In particular, my research will focus on identifying the molecular and evolutionary features of RNA viruses that correspond to successful and unsuccessful incidences of emergence. To do this I am investigating questions such as:
- Why do we see different HIV subtypes in different human populations?
- How is HIV adapting to human populations over time?
- Does cross-species transmission and establishment of emerging viruses require adaptation?
- What facilitates the adaptation of a pathogen to growth in humans and human-human transmission?
- What are the important evolutionary constraints on how far a pathogen can evolve in a new host?