Croonian Prize Lecture: Advances in computational protein design
Seminar · Nov 3, 2026
David Baker, University of Washington; Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Seminar, Hosted by The Royal Society
Francis Crick Prize Lecture: Pathogens and the power of evolution
University of British Columbia; University of Oxford
Abstract
How can bacterial and viral pathogens rapidly evolve to become more or less harmful? Kayla King examines changes in virulence across the tree of life using evolutionary theory, genome sequencing and laboratory selection experiments. The lecture considers changes occurring within weeks in response to host immunity and warming temperatures, their consequences for pathogen genomes and host health, and what they imply for predicting virulence in a changing world. It connects the ecological and evolutionary dynamics of infection with the growing risk of zoonotic spillover into humans and protected species.
Online via the Royal Society public livestream. The lecture is free to watch live on the Royal Society’s YouTube channel.
Topics
- viral pathogens, search World Wide
- virulence, search World Wide
- evolutionary theory
- genome sequencing
- laboratory selection experiments, broader topic: experiments
- host immunity, broader topic: immunity
- warming temperatures, search World Wide
- pathogen genomes, search World Wide
- zoonotic spillover, search World Wide