College of Veterinary Medicine > Stephanie Seifert

Stephanie Seifert

  1. Assistant Professor
  2. Paul G. Allen School for Global Health
Email Address stephanie.seifert@wsu.edu
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Biography

Dr. Seifert is the PI of the Molecular Ecology of Zoonotic and Animal Pathogens (MEZAP) lab where she studies the factors contributing to viral emergence and cross species transmission. Dr. Seifert completed her doctoral dissertation research in the Dept. of Biology, Ecology and Evolution track at UPenn. Her postdoctoral training was completed at the NIH Laboratory of Virology where she worked on filoviruses and henipaviruses in bats both in the field and in the BSL4 laboratory. Dr. Seifert assisted in several outbreak response efforts at NIH including work in Congo during outbreaks of Ebola virus disease in 2017 and 2018 and in early 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. Research in the MEZAP lab at WSU incorporates methodologies from field-based ecology, population genetics, computational biology, and laboratory modeling to better understand and ultimately mitigate cross-species transmission of viruses at human-livestock-wildlife interfaces. My goal is for the research environment in the MEZAP lab to be interdisciplinary and inclusive so our work can be innovative, and impactful. Ongoing collaborations include research with the Viral Emergence Institute, the EEID-Palouse team, and the NIH Center for Research in Emerging Infectious Diseases – eastern and central Africa.

Education

  • Postdoctoral Training, NIH/NIAID Laboratory of Virology, Virus Ecology Section, 2020
  • PhD, University of Pennsylvania, 2017
  • BSc, University of California, Davis, 2010

Research Interest

  • Virus Ecology
  • Host-virus interactions
  • Pathogen dynamics in animal populations
  • Pathogen detection tools
  • Evolution

Publications

Professional Service

  • Editorial Board, Virology Section for the journal Microorganisms (IF 3.864), 2021 – present
  • Review Board, Viruses (IF 5.048), 2021 – present
  • Faculty Member, WSU Tri-Alpha Society for First Generation College Students, 2021 – present

Honors and Awards

  • Scialog: Mitigating Zoonotic Threats Fellow, 2022
  • NSF ADVANCE at WSU award, 2021
  • Merit Award, Laboratory of Virology COVID-19 Research Group, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 2020
  • Fellows Award for Research Excellence, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, 2018
  • Graduate Research Fellowship Program Award, National Science Foundation, 2012