Izabel Doyle

I'm researching highly pathogenic avian influenza H5N1 and its evolution when being passed between birds, cats, and humans. While most of the human population doesn't come into contact with birds, cats do and can act as an intermediate host. A jump from a bird to a non-human mammal could allow H5N1 to evolve enough to better transmit to humans. By researching how it evolves between species we'd know what mutations to look out for before it becomes a problem to humans.