Paul Thomas joins Alan Bridge in leading SIB’s largest group, based in Geneva. As a pioneer in computational biology for genomics, principal investigator of a globally important resource on gene...

Buy The Tree of Life: Solving Science's Greatest Puzzle by Telford, Max (ISBN: 9781399806374) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.

Phylogenetic studies examining the origins, emergence, and spread of viruses have arguably been one of the most active and successful areas of evolutionary biology and form the bedrock of the flourishing field of genomic epidemiology. This, in part, reflects the ability of viruses, particularly those with RNA genomes, to evolve at rates much greater than their cellular counterparts (1). The rapid rate at which viruses evolve and accumulate mutations enables evolutionary signals to be identified through comparative genomics at short timescales relevant for outbreak investigation and response. The integration of phylogenetics and epidemiology, known as phylodynamics, has become a vital tool in response to numerous viral outbreaks, epidemics, and pandemics, including Ebola (2), Zika (3), and, more recently, COVID-19 (4) and mpox (5).

A novel multistep strategy reveals how parent-of-origin effects shape complex traits in large-scale biobanks.

Traits such as height, metabolism, and disease risk can be affected differently – and even in opposite directions – depending on whether the genetic variant responsible is inherited from the mothe...

Letter to the Editor