Susanne Pfeifer
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School of Life Sciences LSC 340 Tempe, AZ 85281
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Mail code: 4501Campus: Tempe
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Susanne Pfeifer is an Associate Professor in the ASU School of Life Sciences, the Center for Evolution & Medicine, and the Center for Mechanisms of Evolution.
The Pfeifer lab is interested in studying genetic and evolutionary processes by combining cutting-edge high-throughput sequence data analysis and model-based statistical inference with a focus on understanding primate evolution at the genomic level. In particular, we study: a) molecular and genetic differences that underlie species-specific traits and heritable disease, b) the evolutionary processes that explain the accrual, and fate, of these differences, and c) the impact of these processes on genome evolution.
Susanne Pfeifer earned a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Computational Molecular Biology from the Max Plank Institute for Computer Science & Saarland University (Germany). She earned her D.Phil. in Statistics at the University of Oxford (UK) advised by Gil McVean, working on the statistical challenges involved in the estimation of variation in mutation and recombination rates from high throughput sequencing data, with direct applications to primate population genetics in a collaboration with Molly Przeworski’s Lab at the University of Chicago and Peter Donnelly’s Lab at the Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics in Oxford. She completed her postdoctoral work as a Vienna International Postdoctoral Program fellow at the Center for Integrative Bioinformatics in Vienna (Austria) and worked as a research associate at the Swiss Institute for Technology (Switzerland).
Research in the Pfeifer Lab is focused on analysing high-throughput sequencing data to learn about genetic and evolutionary processes. In particular, we focus on three topics within evolutionary genomics, also intersecting broadly with other related fields:
- Anthropological - mutation and recombination rate variation in primates
- Ecological - adaptation due to recent environmental change
- Clinical - virus evolution
Please refer to our lab webpage for additional details.
Representative publications from 2023: (lab members indicated; * authors contributed equally)
- A.A. Howell*, C.J. Versoza*, S.P. Pfeifer. 2023. Computational host range prediction – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Virus Evol., vead083. Online ahead of print.
- C.J. Versoza*, S. Weiss*, R. Johal, B. La Rosa, J.D. Jensen, S.P. Pfeifer. 2023. Novel insights into the landscape of crossover and non-crossover events in rhesus macaques (Macaca mulatta). Genome Biol. Evol., evad223. Online ahead of print.
- M. Moström, S. Yu, D. Tran, F. Saccoccio, C.J. Versoza, D. Malouli, S. Valencia, M. Gilbert, R. Blair, S. Hansen, P. Barry, K. Früh, J.D. Jensen, S.P. Pfeifer, T. Kowalik, S. Permar, A. Kaur. 2023. Protective effect of pre-existing natural immunity in a nonhuman primate reinfection model of congenital cytomegalovirus infection. PLoS Pathogens, 19(10): e1011646. pdf
- A.A. Howell, J. Terbot, V. Soni, P. Johri, J.D. Jensen, S.P. Pfeifer. 2023. Developing an appropriate evolutionary baseline model for the study of human cytomegalovirus. Genome Biol. Evol., 15(4): evad059. pdf
- S. Ghafoor*, C.J. Versoza*, J. Santos*, J.D. Jensen, S.P. Pfeifer. 2023. The impact of sample size and population history on observed mutational spectra. Genome Biol. Evol., 15(3): evad019. pdf
- M. Milhaven, C.J. Versoza, A. Garg, L. Cai, S. Cherian, K. Johnson, K. Salas Perez, M. Blanco, J. Lobatos, C. Mitra, M. Strasser, S.P. Pfeifer. 2023. Bacteriophages of cluster EA: phylogenomic relationships and host range predictions. Microorganisms. 11(1): 170. pdf
- M. Milhaven, L. Cai, S. Cherian, K. Johnson, K. Salas Perez, M. Blanco, A. Garg, J. Lobatos, C. Mitra, M. Strasser, R. Harms, S.P. Pfeifer. 2023. Complete genome sequence of the Microbacterium bacteriophage Chako. Microbiol. Resour. Announc., 12(2): e0125122. pdf
- M. Milhaven & S.P. Pfeifer. 2023. Performance comparison of six popular short-read simulators. Heredity, 130(2): 55–63. pdf
Courses
2024 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
BIO 494 | Special Topics |
MBB 495 | Undergraduate Research |
BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
2023 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
BIO 492 | Honors Directed Study |
BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
BIO 494 | Special Topics |
BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
MBB 495 | Undergraduate Research |
BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
2023 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
BIO 494 | Special Topics |
MBB 495 | Undergraduate Research |
BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
BIO 415 | Statistical Models for Biology |
BIO 415 | Statistical Models for Biology |
BIO 514 | Statistical Models for Biology |
BIO 514 | Statistical Models for Biology |
2022 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
BIO 492 | Honors Directed Study |
BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
BIO 494 | Special Topics |
BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
MBB 495 | Undergraduate Research |
BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
2022 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
BIO 493 | Honors Thesis |
BIO 494 | Special Topics |
MBB 495 | Undergraduate Research |
BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
2021 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
BIO 492 | Honors Directed Study |
BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
MBB 495 | Undergraduate Research |
2021 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
BIO 494 | Special Topics |
MBB 495 | Undergraduate Research |
BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
2020 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
BIO 494 | Special Topics |
BIO 495 | Undergraduate Research |
MBB 495 | Undergraduate Research |
BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
2020 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
---|---|
BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
2019 Fall
Course Number | Course Title |
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BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
2019 Spring
Course Number | Course Title |
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BIO 498 | Pro-Seminar |
BIO 598 | Special Topics |
EVO 598 | Special Topics |