Erica Lasek-Nesselquist, Ph.D.
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Erica Lasek-Nesselquist, PhD

Bioinformatics and Statistics Core
PhD, Brown University (2010)

Research Interests

My research focuses on clarifying the phylogenetic relationships among microbial organisms and understanding microbial genome evolution, including the contributions of horizontal gene transfer and endosymbioses to shaping genomes and accelerating adaptive evolution. As a member of the Bioinformatics and Biostatistics Core at the Wadsworth Center, I am involved in a diverse set of clinical and research projects. I routinely perform molecular analyses with next-generation sequencing data to characterize microbial populations in various environments, determine phylogenetic relationships among microbes, assess transmission dynamics of various pathogens and ascertain their phylogeographic histories, detect mutations associated with drug resistance, and elucidate the evolutionary processes involved in acquiring antibiotic resistance.

Select Publications
Alpert T, Brito AF, Lasek-Nesselquist E, Rothman J, Valesano AL, MacKay MJ, Petrone ME, Breban MI, Watkins AE, Vogels CBF, Kalinich CC, Dellicour S, Russell A, Kelly JP, Shudt M, Plitnick J, Schneider E, Fitzsimmons WJ, Khullar G, Metti J, Dudley JT, Nash M, Beaubier N, Wang J, Liu C, Hui P, Muyombwe A, Downing R, Razeq J, Bart SM, Grills A, Morrison SM, Murphy S, Neal C, Laszlo E, Rennert H, Cushing M, Westblade L, Velu P, Craney A, Cong L, Peaper DR, Landry ML, Cook PW, Fauver JR, Mason CE, Lauring AS, St George K, MacCannell DR, Grubaugh ND. Early introductions and transmission of SARS-CoV-2 variant B.1.1.7 in the United States. Cell. 2021; 184 (10): 2595-2604. DOI: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.03.061
Pubmed Web Address
Lasek-Nesselquist E, Johnson, MD. A phylogenomic approach to clarifying the relationship of Mesodinium within the Ciliophora: a case study in the complexity of mixed-species transcriptome analyses. Genome Biol Evol. 2019; 11 3218-3232. DOI: 10.1093/gbe/evz233
Pubmed Web Address
Lasek-Nesselquist E, Lu J, Schneider R, Ma Z, Russo V, Mishra S, Pai MP, Pata J, McDonough K, Malik M. Insights into the evolution of Staphylococcus aureus daptomycin resistance from an in vitro bioreactor model. Front Microbiol. 2019; DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2019.00345
Pubmed Web Address
Wells M, Lasek-Nesselquist E, Schoonmaker-Boop D, Baker D, Thompson L, Wroblewski D, Nazarian E, Lapierre P, Musser KA. Insights into the long-term persistence of Legionella in facilities from whole-genome sequencing. Infect Genet Evol. 2018; 65 200-209. DOI: 10.1016/j.meegid.2018.07.040
Pubmed Web Address