We are a dry lab, using a variety of approaches from population genetics in order to study fundamental evolutionary processes. This work can be summarized in to two primary research areas:

(i) Population Genetic Theory, Methodology, & Analysis: This line of research involves developing theory, as well as likelihood and approximate Bayesian based statistical approaches, for quantifying and untangling the evolutionary pressures driving populations (click here for all papers on theory/method development). Our empirical applications of these developments are generally focused upon the forces at play during the colonization of novel environments (click here for all papers on natural population analysis).

(ii) Experimental & Pathogen Evolution: We also work in systems where we can control aspects of demography experimentally, and artificially generate mutations, in order to study the shape of the distribution of fitness effects and the underlying fitness landscapes. Within this context, we have interests in the evolution of drug resistance in influenza virus, and in the demographic and selective processes underlying human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection. Click here for all papers on experimental & pathogen population analysis.

The Jensen Lab is in the School of Life Sciences at Arizona State University, and we are part of a large and collaborative group in evolutionary genomics at ASU – see ASUpopgen.org. We are also members of the Center for Evolution & Medicine, and the Center for Mechanisms of Evolution.