Emma Hodcroft

Hodcroft was born to an American mother, Ellen Louise Boyer, and British father, Ken Hodcroft.{{cite web| vauthors = Hall J |date=24 August 2018 |title=Football club owner's daughter rises from despair to chutney queen |url=https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/whats-on/football-club-owners-daughter-rises-15068422 |access-date=9 March 2021 |website=ChronicleLive |language=en}} After her parents divorced, she and her two younger siblings split their year between Texas and Scotland.{{cite web | vauthors = Saraga D |title=Emma Hodcroft: The 'virus hunter'|url=https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/nextstrain_emma-hodcraft--the--virus-hunter-/45762072 |date=15 May 2020 |access-date=9 March 2021 |website=SWI swissinfo.ch |language=en}}

Hodcroft studied for her undergraduate degree in biology at Texas Christian University (TCU). She worked with Professor John Horner, studying the carnivorous Sarracenia alata pitcher plants, studying the genetic variation among geographically distinct plant populations. This work showed that clonal reproduction, thought to be common among the species, was in fact quite low.

Later, Hodcroft studied for a master's degree at the University of Edinburgh, which she received with distinction. Her thesis looked for evidence of adaptive selection in Drosophila, by comparing the rate of changes across tissue types, periods of time, and between immune-related and non-immune related functions.

Hodcroft received her Ph.D. at Edinburgh with Prof. Andrew Leigh Brown. Her thesis studied the phylogenetic factors influencing viral load in HIV.{{cite web|last=University of Edinburgh|date=30 June 2014|title=Emma Hodcroft's Three Minute Thesis|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkCNUPJ-OIM|access-date=27 March 2021|website=YouTube}} Her three-minute summary of her thesis won the school- and country-level award in the 3 Minute Thesis Competition and placed third in the global competition.{{cite web|date=|title=About Emma Hodcroft|url=http://emmahodcroft.com/|access-date=13 February 2021|website=emmahodcroft.com|quote=About Me: About Emma Hodcroft}}

Hodcroft's research has focused on computational methods of tracking genetic changes in pathogens and their impact on disease and epidemiological dynamics. She is currently a post-doc working on Nextstrain with Richard Neher.

Hodcroft's doctoral work studied the phylogenetic factors influencing viral load in HIV, analyzing the genetic sequences of 8,500 HIV samples in the United Kingdom. She found that variations in HIV B strains were responsible for only a small fraction in the variations of viral load in patients, while HIV C strains showed a greater degree of viral influence over viral load.{{cite journal| vauthors = Hodcroft EB |date=2015 |title=Estimating the Heritability of Virulence in HIV |journal=Edinburgh Research Archive |url=https://era.ed.ac.uk/handle/1842/15814 |access-date=2023-12-14 |language=en}} She completed her first postdoctoral position with the PANGEA_HIV initiative, continuing in the laboratory of Prof. Leigh Brown. Hodcroft developed a stochastic, agent-based model for the simulation of HIV epidemics in Africa developed south of the Sahara.{{cite journal | vauthors = Yebra G, Hodcroft EB, Ragonnet-Cronin ML, Pillay D, Brown AJ | title = Using nearly full-genome HIV sequence data improves phylogeny reconstruction in a simulated epidemic | journal = Scientific Reports | volume = 6 | issue = 1 | pages = 39489 | date = December 2016 | pmid = 28008945 | pmc = 5180198 | doi = 10.1038/srep39489 | bibcode = 2016NatSR...639489Y }}

Hodcroft is a developer on the Nextstrain project, an open science project that tracks the transmission chains of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens. Her work included expanding Nextstrain to efficiently analyze bacterial pathogens, which have significantly larger genomes than viruses.

Hodcroft's research then focused on Enterovirus D68, the virus implicated in outbreaks of a polio-like disorder called acute flaccid myelitis. The work culminated in publishing a phylogenetic analysis of the evolution, geographic spread, and demographic distribution of the pathogen.{{cite journal| vauthors = Hodcroft EB, Dyrdak R, Andrés C, Egli A, Reist J, de Artola DG, Flórez JA, Niesters HG, Antón A, Poelman R, Reynders M | display-authors = 6 |date=18 January 2020|title=Evolution, geographic spreading, and demographic distribution of Enterovirus D68 |journal=bioRxiv |language=en |pages=2020.01.10.901553 |doi=10.1101/2020.01.10.901553 | s2cid = 211142598 |url=https://www.biorxiv.org/content/biorxiv/early/2020/01/18/2020.01.10.901553.full.pdf }}{{cite web|title=Enterovirus D68|url=https://nextstrain.org/enterovirus/d68/genome|access-date=28 March 2021|website=nextstrain.org}}

During the COVID-19 pandemic, scientific and public interest in viral dynamics soared. Hodcroft made significant contributions maintaining ongoing analysis of the outbreak in Nextstrain, starting a new site to track SARS-CoV-2 variants, and explaining the outbreak dynamics to the public. As a scientist tracking the spread of the virus across the globe, Hodcroft has published and been quoted on multiple topics, including how the early pandemic spread from country to country, the potential for seasonality, and the prevalence and spread of variants of concern.

Early in the pandemic, Hodcroft became intrigued by how a lone traveler from Singapore could have trigger a rash of cases in the United Kingdom. She posted an infographic on Twitter tracking the spread from the Singapore traveler, to fellow guests at a ski chalet in Switzerland, to the outbreak in the UK. A colleague suggested she publish the work, she posted the article on 26 February and it was published the next day in Swiss Medical Weekly.{{cite web|title=Coronavirus's Genetics Hint at its Cryptic Spread in Communities|url=https://www.the-scientist.com/news-opinion/coronaviruss-genetics-hint-at-its-cryptic-spread-in-communities-67233|access-date=28 March 2021|website=The Scientist Magazine®|language=en |first=Ashley |last=Yeager |date=6 March 2020}}

Over the following months, phylogenetic analysis and open science platforms like Nextstrain played a key role in efforts to understand the epidemic.{{cite journal | vauthors = Zastrow M | title = Open science takes on the coronavirus pandemic | journal = Nature | volume = 581 | issue = 7806 | pages = 109–110 | date = May 2020 | pmid = 32332909 | doi = 10.1038/d41586-020-01246-3 | bibcode = 2020Natur.581..109Z | s2cid = 216129647 | doi-access = }} This work helped to understand transmission patterns, track key mutations, and estimate the speed of epidemic spread. In October 2020, Hodcroft and the Nextstrain team published an analysis that showed that the strain driving an emerging wave in the United Kingdom had first emerged in Spain — indicating that holiday travel to and from Spain was a likely source of the outbreak.{{Cite medRxiv |vauthors=Hodcroft EB, Zuber M, Nadeau S, Crawford KH, Bloom JD, Veesler D, Vaughan TG, Comas I, Candelas FG, Stadler T, Neher RA |display-authors=6 |title=Emergence and spread of a SARS-CoV-2 variant through Europe in the summer of 2020 |date=November 2020 |medrxiv=10.1101/2020.10.25.20219063}} Hodcroft has published on the history of competing SARS-CoV-2 strains to better understand the emergence of variants of concern.{{cite journal | vauthors = Lauring AS, Hodcroft EB | title = Genetic Variants of SARS-CoV-2-What Do They Mean? | journal = JAMA | volume = 325 | issue = 6 | pages = 529–531 | date = February 2021 | pmid = 33404586 | doi = 10.1001/jama.2020.27124 | s2cid = 230783233 | doi-access = free }}{{cite journal | vauthors = Grubaugh ND, Hodcroft EB, Fauver JR, Phelan AL, Cevik M | title = Public health actions to control new SARS-CoV-2 variants | journal = Cell | volume = 184 | issue = 5 | pages = 1127–1132 | date = March 2021 | pmid = 33581746 | pmc = 7846239 | doi = 10.1016/j.cell.2021.01.044| issn=0092-8674 }} Hodcroft has written about the round-the-clock nature of gathering, analyzing, error-checking, and annotating the flood of genomic data from around the world.

In March 2021, Hodcroft was the lead author of a commentary in Nature about how the scientific community could track virus variants faster.{{cite journal | vauthors = Hodcroft EB, De Maio N, Lanfear R, MacCannell DR, Minh BQ, Schmidt HA, Stamatakis A, Goldman N, Dessimoz C | display-authors = 6 | title = Want to track pandemic variants faster? Fix the bioinformatics bottleneck | journal = Nature | volume = 591 | issue = 7848 | pages = 30–33 | date = March 2021 | pmid = 33649511 | doi = 10.1038/d41586-021-00525-x | bibcode = 2021Natur.591...30H | doi-access = free | url = https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/10128746/1/Practical%20Phylogenetics%20for%20Public%20Health.pdf }} The article recommended ways to "fix the bioinformatics bottleneck," including improving the rules and incentives for data sharing, rethinking incentives for midcareer academics, and accommodating the challenges of analyzing vast volumes of data, often from labs that have not collected and reports data in such volumes.{{clarify|date=April 2021}} It pointed out that much of the genetic tracking of SARS-CoV-2 had not been performed by public health authorities, but rather by mid-career academics who set aside their own research to help the pandemic efforts. The article called on the scientific community to rethink the incentives for these researchers, so their efforts would not set back their careers. Similarly, the article called on the community to find ways to standardize data sharing, and to ensure that researchers can share data prior to publication without having their own findings pre-empted.

In 2020, she originated CoVariants.org, a project tracking SARS-CoV-2 variants.

Hodcroft has also emerged as a science communicator, both on social media and in the press. She has been quoted in articles about the transmission of the virus,{{cite news|date=24 March 2020|title=A Covid-19 Detective Tracks Disease Trail With Genetic Clues|language=en|work=Bloomberg.com|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-03-24/how-did-covid-19-spread-viral-genetics-leave-trail-of-clues|access-date=28 March 2021}} debunking the conspiracy theory that the virus was artificially created,{{cite web|date=26 March 2020|title=No, the coronavirus wasn't made in a lab. A genetic analysis shows it's from nature|url=https://www.sciencenews.org/article/coronavirus-covid-19-not-human-made-lab-genetic-analysis-nature|access-date=28 March 2021|website=Science News|language=en-US}} and describing the role of holiday travel in spreading the virus,{{cite web|title=Researchers Say 90% Of Recent Coronavirus Sequences In U.K. Came From Spain|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/11/24/938593219/researchers-say-90-of-recent-coronavirus-sequences-in-u-k-came-from-spain|access-date=28 March 2021|website=NPR.org|language=en}} and the impact of emerging variants of concern.{{cite news| vauthors = Mandavilli A |date=25 February 2021|title=The Coronavirus Is Threatening a Comeback. Here's How to Stop It.|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/25/health/coronavirus-united-states.html|access-date=28 March 2021|issn=0362-4331}}

As of March 2021, Hodcroft is named as a co-author in 23 papers:{{cite web | url =https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0078-2212 |title=ORCID: Emma Hodcroft |website=orcid.org |access-date=10 March 2021}}

• 8 about SARS-CoV-2 (2020–2021)
• 1 titled 'Augur: a bioinformatics toolkit for phylogenetic analyses of human pathogens' (2021)
• 3 about Enterovirus D68 (2019–2020)
• 9 about HIV (2014–2020)
• 1 about Sarracenia alata (2014)
• 1 about Automated analysis of phylogenetic clusters (2013).

Hodcroft has presented her work on HIV at Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) 2012 in Seattle, WA, and CROI 2013 in Atlanta, GA, and at many conferences, including the 45th Population Genetics Group Conference in Nottingham, England, and the 19th, 20th, and 21st HIV Dynamics and Evolution Conferences in Asheville, NC; Utrecht, the Netherlands; and Tucson, AZ.

Hodcroft's entry in the 2014 Three Minute Thesis competition, "Do some strains of HIV make people sick more quickly than others?" won first prize and the 'people's choice' award at the University of Edinburgh finals of the '3 Minute Thesis competition'. A video of the presentation placed 3rd in the world-wide Universitas 21 competition in 2014.{{cite web|url=https://www.ed.ac.uk/institute-academic-development/postgraduate/doctoral/3mt/history|date=|title=History of the (3 Minute Thesis) competition |website=www.ed.ac.uk |access-date=13 February 2021}}

The Nextstrain tool, co-developed by Hodcroft, received a Webby Special Achievement Award in May 2020.{{cite web | url =https://winners.webbyawards.com/2020/specialachievement/270/nextstrainorg |title=Webby Special Achievement |website =winners.webbyawards.com |access-date=29 December 2020}}

In March 2021, The New York Times listed Hodcroft as a scientist in a new generation "changing the landscape of leadership" for women in science.{{cite news|date=5 March 2021|title=10 Women Changing the Landscape of Leadership|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/live/2021/03/05/world/women-leadership|access-date=9 March 2021|issn=0362-4331}}

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==External links==

• [https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Hodcroft+EB&cauthor_id=33404586 PubMed search for Emma B. Hodcroft]

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Category:1986 births

Category:American women epidemiologists

Category:American epidemiologists

Category:Living people

Category:American virologists

Category:Women virologists

Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh

Category:Texas Christian University alumni

Category:21st-century American women scientists

Category:British women epidemiologists

Category:British epidemiologists