Dr Naomi Forrester-Soto

Dr Forrester-Soto graduated from Oxford Worcester College in 2000, and from Liverpool University with a PhD in 2005. She has spent the past 20 years working on the evolution of RNA viruses, starting out with Rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus phylogenetics and moving to Alphaviruses and studying their two-host system. She spent 11 years at the University of Texas Medical Branch, where she established her own research group. She moved to Keele University in 2018 and oversaw the build and commissioning of a CL3 suite before moving to Pirbright in 2023. Her research focuses on the evolution of RNA viruses. She has been involved in science communication for the past few years particularly being involved in radio and tv communication during COVID-19. Currently she studies the role of mutations in RNA virus replication and evolution, focusing on how RNA viruses manage the number of mutations that are produced and how this leads to successful infection and transmission of the virus.