Symposium: Ecological and Evolutionary drivers of pathogen emergence

Alessandra Giacomini, Swansea University

Pathogen-microbiome dynamics in small mammals across an urban-rural ecotone

Benoit J Pons, ESI, University of Exeter

Antibiotics that affect translation antagonize phage infectivity by interfering with anti-CRISPR.

Emile Michels, CEC, University of Exeter

Do invasive species amplify zoonotic pathogens?

Hongbo Sun, CEC, University of Exeter

Patterns of Susceptibility to bacterial pathogens across host species

Jay Ringger, ESI, University of Exeter

The advantages of a CRISPR-Cas9 plasmid immune system in inter-plasmid competition

Mark Hanson, CEC, University of Exeter

The microbiome shapes the host, not just vice versa: evolutionary implications for health and disease

Tamsin Harper, CEC, University of Exeter

Drivers of outbreak severity in poultry farming and risks to wildlife

Tatiana Dimitriu, ESI, University of Exeter

Efficiency of bacterial innate defenses against resistance plasmid acquisition

Lisa Butt, LSI, University of Exeter

Coevolution is Instrumental for the Persistence of Specialist Phage in Multi-Species Communities

Robyn Manley, University of Exeter

The evolution of phage resistance and attenuation of virulence in bacterial hosts

"The role of host ecology in shaping the virome"

Dr Jemma Geoghegan

Evolutionary Virologist, University of Otago, New Zealand

Abstract: New Zealand is a unique place to study the evolution of viruses. Separated from Gondwana around 84 million years ago, many of New Zealand’s native hosts have lived in isolation, likely harbouring novel and highly divergent viruses. New Zealand’s fauna therefore provides a powerful natural experiment to evaluate the key genetic and ecological parameters that affect viral evolution. Specifically, the unusual amalgam of native and invasive species, with well-documented history of invasive introduction, provide a unique opportunity to determine the factors that contribute to viral host-jumping over ecological timescales. We sample animal hosts such as birds, fish, reptiles and mammals to uncover what viruses they harbour, determine how their viruses have evolved over time and how their ecology and life history may promote viral host-jumping. Overall, we aim to reveal more of the unexplored virosphere, uncover potential disease-causing viruses affecting wildlife, and identify factors that shape the virome.

Biography: Dr Jemma Geoghegan leads the Virus Evolution lab at the University of Otago, New Zealand. Her research involves using metagenomics to reveal the diversity, structure and evolution of the virosphere; examining the evolution of major viral infections, including SARS-CoV-2; and developing new analytical and computational approaches to analyse aspects of virus evolution. A major focus of this research is determining the fundamental patterns and processes of viral evolution, ecology and emergence.

"Host shifting at variable interfaces"

Dr Konstans Wells

Lecturer (Research), Biosciences, Swansea University, UK

Abstract: Emerging infectious diseases are often caused by host shifting of pathogens from a reservoir to a spillover host. It is assumed that the key drivers of host shifting and pathogen spillover are anthropogenic changes in land use and climate. Among other eco-evolutionary processes, anthropogenic changes pose variable conditions in ever-changing ‘disease landscapes’ of pathogen spread within and among different host species and across spatiotemporal scales. This talk will present some of my previous and ongoing research on disease spread within single species and among multi-host interfaces and discuss insights and shortfalls for better predicting and managing pathogen spillover and host shifting in under variable environmental conditions.

Biography: Dr Konstans Wells leads the Biodiversity and Health Ecology group at Swansea University. His research interests are centred around the global change impact on host-parasite interactions, invasive species, biodiversity and health ecology.  He combines multivariate ecological and eco-epidemiological modelling with field-based research for optimizing conservation and pest control efforts and the prevention of disease spread under different environmental scenarios and policy schemes. 

"The role of host and landscape heterogeneity in pathogen emergence Professor of Disease Ecology and Molecular Epidemiology"

Professor Roman Biek

Disease Ecology & Molecular Epidemiology, University of Glasgow, UK

Abstract: Infectious disease emergence tends to be caused by pathogens that can infect multiple host species and that are often maintained across complex ecological settings. What are the features that allow pathogens to successfully establish in novel host species? And how does variation in the environment (e.g. changes in land use and host communities,) affect the ability of pathogens to emerge and spread? To address these questions, I will use examples from our research on viral and bacterial diseases and highlight the importance of drawing on multiple lines of inference, such as the integration of ecological, geographical and genetic information.

Biography: Roman Biek is based within the School of Biodiversity, One Health and Veterinary Medicine at the University of Glasgow. His work aims to understand how infectious organisms spread and persist in their respective host populations and how ecological factors, from host features to landscape heterogeneity, affect these processes. This research focuses on rapidly evolving pathogens such viruses and bacteria, for which genetic changes are thus tractable on observable time scales, and on diseases that are zoonotic or of animal health concern (e.g. rabies, Lyme disease, anthrax, bovine TB).

Drivers of within and between species transmission of canine rabies

Professor Katie Hampson

Infectious Disease Ecology, University of Glasgow, UK

Abstract: Rabies can infect all mammals. However, typically a single species drives rabies transmission, while others species are less frequently infected via spillover. In Tanzania, we have shown domestic dogs to be the primary rabies reservoir but have found substantial variation in the role of jackals in sustaining transmission. Using several decades of contact tracing data from different parts of Tanzania we reconstruct transmission trees to examine within- and between-species transmission dynamics and potential for sustained spread in wildlife. We discuss the implications of these findings for preventing human rabies and the emergence of new rabies reservoirs.

Biography: Katie Hampson is Professor of Disease Ecology & Public Health. She completed her PhD at Princeton University in 2007, where she established a contact tracing study to investigate rabies transmission dynamics in northern Tanzania. She returned to the UK on a Wellcome Trust Fellowship and continued her rabies work with new field sites in Southern Tanzania. She joined the University of Glasgow in 2009 with continued Wellcome Trust support. She leads field research in Tanzania and works with a network of collaborators on fundamental and operational research.