معرفی
David Rasmussen serves as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at North Carolina State University and is affiliated with the Bioinformatics Research Center. He joined NC State in January 2018 through the Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program cluster hire in Emerging Plant Disease and Global Food Security, where he develops phylogenetic methods for tracking pathogen transmission across human and agricultural systems.
His academic background includes:
- Bachelor's degree from Reed College
- Ph.D. from Duke University under Dr. Katia Koelle
- ETH Zürich Postdoctoral Research Fellowship with Dr. Tanja Stadler
Rasmussen's research centers on computational phylogenetics to analyze pathogen evolution using genomic data. He investigates transmission dynamics of human viruses (dengue, HIV, influenza) and agricultural pathogens, with emphasis on fitness trade-offs during host adaptation and genetic mechanisms of pathogen emergence. His group integrates experimental plant virus work with phylogenetic modeling to address food security threats, developing methods for genomic epidemiology that quantify evolutionary constraints. Key innovations include algorithms for recombination-aware inference and frameworks for optimizing genomic surveillance.
Analysis of his 2022-2025 publications reveals three dominant themes: (1) Methodological advances in phylodynamic modeling (e.g., recombination-aware phylogeography, Markov decision processes for sampling optimization), (2) Quantification of viral fitness trade-offs across host species through meta-analyses and experimental evolution, and (3) Applications to critical pathogens including SARS-CoV-2, tomato viruses, and antimicrobial-resistant bacteria. His work bridges computational theory with agricultural and public health applications.
Scientific recognition includes:
- ETH Zürich Postdoctoral Research Fellowship
- NSF CAREER Award (2022) for "Deconstructing the Fitness Tradeoffs that Limit Viral Host Range"
Supported by NSF funding and the Chancellor’s Faculty Excellence Program, Rasmussen leads an active research group focused on genomic epidemiology of emerging pathogens. His work involves extensive international collaboration through workshops across Africa, Asia, and Europe. As a core member of the Emerging Plant Disease cluster, he contributes to NC State's mission of combating agricultural threats through interdisciplinary research, developing tools for pathogen surveillance and host adaptation prediction. Current projects couple experimental evolution of plant viruses with phylogenetic analysis to identify genetic determinants of host jumps.
Rasmussen operates within NC State's Emerging Plant Disease and Global Food Security research cluster, which integrates plant pathology, genomics, and agricultural science to address crop-threatening pathogens. His laboratory develops computational pipelines for pathogen genome analysis while collaborating with experimentalists on plant virus systems, contributing to NC State's leadership in agricultural biosecurity and food supply protection.
