Hi! My name is Eva Vu-Stern, and my 2025 summer research is focused on the epidemiology of influenza and the clinical implications for the Portland metro area. More specifically, I am investigating the novel correlations between the clinical demographics of Oregon influenza patients and the lineage of influenza with which they have been infected.
I am working at the Molecular Microbiology Lab, led by Dr. Xuan Qin, which sits within the pathology department at Oregon Health and Science University and is a key part of the viral genome surveillance program for the State of Oregon. This next-generation sequencing lab, which combines research and clinical work in partnership with Oregon Health and Science University hospitals, was created within just two weeks during the COVID-19 pandemic and sequences nearly 50% of Oregon’s patient COVID-19 tests. Their research has followed waves of COVID-19 variants and contributed to the larger public health surveillance network in the U.S. and around the world. In the past year, they have expanded their genomic surveillance work to RSV and influenza.
My work is focused on bioinformatic and computational analyses of Oregon patients’ influenza data. In collaboration with the Oregon Health Authority, the lab has run a panel that identifies patients from the 2024-2025 season with infections that genetically match a wide range of respiratory diseases. Though it is not novel to sequence patient samples, it is a unique opportunity to pair this genetic information with the amount of specific, clinical demographic metadata collected from these patients. By looking for correlations between the sequenced flu samples (which, among other things, identifies which flu lineage is present) and different patient demographics, we can use phylogenetic analysis to trace how the virus has evolved and identify factors that contribute to this evolution, which is key for public health surveillance and clinical response.
So far, I have been working on cleaning up the patient data to only include data from patients that showed ≥85% match to one of the influenza strains. I have also begun to self-learn R, a program used for bioinformatic analysis, and I am working on creating a timeline graph that shows which flu lineages were present at which dates within the 2024-2025 season.
My next goals are to:
- Finish creating my influenza infection timeline in R
- Run tests to determine if there are statistically significant relationships between flu lineages and each of the following demographic variables: patient age, sex, race, ethnicity, immunizations, length of stay, and location.
To achieve these goals, I need to identify the appropriate statistical tests to use and figure out how to run these tests in R. Working with this lab has challenged and improved my independent problem solving, but it makes it all the more rewarding when I am able to figure out a solution to a problem myself. I am excited to see what correlations I find in the data in the coming weeks!