The Feder lab aims to uncover how the rapid evolution of pathogens and cancers within people exacerbates disease, and how a better understanding of this intra-host evolution can be harnessed to improve human health. We are particularly interested in how the complex environment of the human body shapes this process across spatial scales. From cellular coinfection mediating viral interaction, to heterogeneous tumor microenvironments creating distinct environmental niches, and to the diverse conditions that pathogens face in different organ systems, space is a critical driver of intra-host evolution, and failure to interrogate its effects limits our ability to understand disease. While spatially-resolved data is increasingly collected at higher resolution and frequency, our analytical tools to leverage these spatial data have not kept pace. We are meeting this need by developing new quantitative approaches to understand spatially-resolved intra-host genetic data across viral, bacterial and somatic domains of life.

Representative papers:

State-dependent evolutionary models reveal modes of solid tumour growth

Elevated HIV viral load is associated with higher recombination rate in vivo

Understanding patterns of HIV multi-drug resistance through models of temporal and spatial drug heterogeneity