Magdalini (Magda) Bletsa
I obtained my BSc and MSc degrees from the Department of Biochemistry & Biotechnology, University of Thessaly (Larissa, Greece) in 2014 & 2012, respectively. In January 2021, I received my PhD under the supervision of Prof. Philippe Lemey at the Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Transplantation, KU Leuven (Leuven, Belgium), followed by a first post-doc in the same group (2021-2022). From January 2022, I am a postdoctoral researcher in the group of Prof. Gkikas Magiorkinis at the Department of Hygiene, Epidemiology and Medical Statistics, NKUA (Athens, Greece). At the same time, I continue collaborating as an external researcher at KU Leuven, involved in the supporting supervision of technicians and PhD students.
My research aims at a better understanding of viral ecology and evolution. I am particularly interested in identifying the evolutionary processes and dynamics that shape viral genetic diversity across scales, from within- to between-hosts and from deep to recent evolutionary events. To answer these fundamental questions, I use a combination of wet-lab approaches (controlled experiments, high-throughput sequencing) and computational tools (bioinformatics, phylogenetics, phylodynamics).