👩‍🔬 Speaker: Dr Marina Escalera-Zamudio 📅 Date: 12 October 2026 ⏰ Time: 5:30 PM to 6:30 PM 📍 Location: C3.15, IOE - Bedford Way (20) 📑 Paper: Parallel evolution in the emergence of highly pathogenic avian influenza A viruses https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-020-19364-x Why do some avian influenza lineages repeatedly evolve into highly pathogenic forms while others do not? This paper uses viral genomes, phylogenetics, statistical modelling and protein-structure evidence to identify mutations repeatedly associated with the independent emergence of highly pathogenic influenza lineages. We’ll be joined by Dr Marina Escalera-Zamudio , a UCL epidemiologist whose research uses genomic data and evolutionary modelling to understand and anticipate viral variation. The session will ask how confidently we can reconstruct evolutionary events from genomic data: does repeated mutation imply adaptation, how do we separate association from mechanism, and could evolutionary genomics ever help us predict which viral lineages are most likely to become dangerous? Themes: viral genomics · parallel evolution · phylogenetics  · predicting pathogen emergence