Email: lei.zhao@sund.ku.dk

Ph.D in applied mathematics, Postdoc

Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

ResearchGate main page (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Lei-Zhao-51)

Biography

Dr. Lei Zhao has been engaged in the fields of population genetics, virus evolution and bioinformatics. With a strong background of mathematics and theoretical population genetics, Lei is interested in developping complex population genetics model and efficient software to detect/infer/interpret the genetic patterns conveyed by both ancient and modern data, and to better understand species evolutionary paths.

Lei is currently working as a postdoc at Globe Institute, in the University of Copenhagen, under the instructions of Prof. Rasmus Nielsen and Prof. Thorfinn Korneliussen.

Education

• 2008/9 2012/6 School of Mathematical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, Bachelor, Information and Computing Sciences
• 2012/9 2017/6 School of Mathematical Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China, Ph.D, Applied Mathematics (Population Genetics), Supervisor: David Waxman
• 2015/9 2016/9 Institute of Evolutionary Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, UK, Visiting PhD student, Supervisor: Brian Charlesworth
• 2017/11 2019/10 Department of Genetics, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Supervisor: Chris Illingworth
• 2020/10 Now Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark, Postdoc, Supervisor: Rasmus Nielsen and Thorfinn Korneliussen

Research Interests

• The development of complex population genetics and bioinformatics models/tools for better interpreting next-generation sequencing data.
• The development of statistic models for better understanding ancient DNA, e.g., PMD pattern, methylation pattern, contamination pattern, etc.
• Understanding of viral evolution.

Selected publications

1. Zhao, Lei#; Nielsen, Rasmus; Korneliussen, Thorfinn S ; distAngsd: Fast and accurate inference of genetic distances for Next Generation Sequencing data , Molecular Biology and Evolution, 2022, 39(6), msac119, Software Link .
2. Zhao, Lei#; Abbasi, Ali B; Illingworth, Christopher J R ; Mutational load causes stochastic evolutionary outcomes in acute RNA viral infection, Virus Evolution, 2019, 5(1): vez008.
3. Zhao, Lei#; Illingworth, Christopher J R ; Measurements of intrahost viral diversity require an unbiased diversity metric, Virus Evolution, 2019, 5(1): vey041.
4. Zhao, Lei#; Charlesworth, Brian ; Resolving the Conflict Between Associative Overdominance and Background Selection, GENETICS, 2016, 203(3): 1315-1334.
5. Zhao, Lei#; Lascoux, Martin; Overall, Andrew D J; Waxman, David ; The Characteristic Trajectory of a Fixing Allele: A Consequence of Fictitious Selection That Arises from Conditioning, Genetics, 2013, 195(3): 993-1006.
6. Zhao, Lei#; Yue, Xingye; Waxman, David ; Complete Numerical Solution of the Diffusion Equation of Random Genetic Drift, Genetics, 2013, 194(4): 973-985.
7. Campos, Jose Luis; Zhao, Lei; Charlesworth, Brian ; Estimating the parameters of background selection and selective sweeps in Drosophila in the presence of gene conversion, Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 2017, 114(24): E4762-E4771.
8. Lumby, Casper K; Zhao, Lei; Oporto, Macarena; Best, Tim; Tutill, Helena; Shah, Divya; Veys, Paul; Williams, Rachel; Worth, Austen; Illingworth, Christopher J R; Breuer, Judy ; Favipiravir and Zanamivir Cleared Infection with Influenza B in a Severely Immunocompromised Child, Clinica l Infectious Diseases, 2020, 71(7): e191-e194.
9. Lumby, Casper K; Zhao, Lei; Breuer, Judith; Illingworth, Christopher J R ; A large effective population size for established within-host influenza virus infection, eLife, 2020, 9: e56915.
10. Qin, Bo-Wei; Zhao, Lei; Lin, Wei ; A frequency-amplitude coordinator and its optimal energy consumption for biological oscillators, NATURE COMMUNICATIONS, 2021, 12: 5894