Helen Alexander

Biography

Background

  • 2004-2008: BSc (Hon) in Applied Mathematics & Minor in Medical Sciences, University of Western Ontario, London, Canada
  • 2008-2010: MSc in Mathematics, Queen's University, Kingston, Canada
  • 2010-2014: PhD in Theoretical Biology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2015-2016: Postdoc in Theoretical Biology, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
  • 2016-2019: Swiss National Science Foundation mobility postdoc fellow, Department of Zoology, University of Oxford, UK
  • 2019-present: Royal Society University Research Fellow, Institute of Ecology and Evolution, University of Edinburgh, UK

Research summary

My research addresses how organisms adapt to and survive severe environmental changes, a process called "evolutionary rescue". A particular current focus is how bacterial pathogens evolve resistance to antibiotic treatment. This serves as both a model system to understand fundamental evolutionary principles, and an important applied topic in public health. I am especially interested in stochastic processes underlying evolution: the production of rare mutations and the demographic dynamics of small populations. I address these topics through mathematical modelling, wet lab experiments, and statistical inference.

 

My current interests include:

  • quantifying stochastic population dynamics experimentally (using bacteria)
  • the impact of ecological interactions on a bacterial population's response to antibiotic treatment and evolution of antibiotic resistance
  • optimal antibiotic dosing schedules
  • causes and consequences of mutation rate variation in bacteria

 

Past research projects included:

  • emerging epidemics
  • within-host evolution of drug resistance in chronic viral diseases (e.g. HIV)
  • immune escape in HIV
  • phylodynamic inference methods
  • phenotypic delay in the expression of new mutations in bacteria

 

For further information, please visit our research group website

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