Charles Foster

Dr. Charles Foster is a Bioinformatics Researcher at the Virology Research Lab, UNSW/Prince of Wales Hospital. His work focuses on genomic analysis of viruses, particularly SARS-CoV-2, and developing bioinformatics tools for virology research. He holds a PhD in phylogenomics and has contributed to studies on viral evolution, transcriptomics, and pandemic response strategies.

Education: Bachelor of Science (Advanced) with First Class Honours and University Medal from the University of Sydney. PhD research emphasized bioinformatics applications in evolutionary biology.

Research interests include viral genomics, phylogenetic analysis, and the application of bioinformatics to infectious disease surveillance. His work bridges fundamental research and public health, with recent focus on SARS-CoV-2 genomic sequencing and viral evolution tracking.

Key contributions include development of analytical pipelines for viral genomic data, and studies on HIV-1 sequencing methods, CMV neurodevelopmental effects, and RSV epidemiology. His publications highlight advancements in genomic methodologies and insights into viral adaptation mechanisms.

Awards: Best PhD Thesis Award in his completion year. His research is supported by collaborations within the UNSW Health & Medicine faculty and Prince of Wales Hospital facilities.