Chantal Vogels, PhD

I am a Research Scientist and incoming Assistant Professor (July 2024) in the Department of Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases at the Yale School of Public Health. I have a background in ecology, medical entomology, virology, and genomics.

During my PhD at Wageningen University & Research, I studied the role of Culex pipiens mosquitoes in transmission of West Nile virus in Europe. My interdisciplinary project involved local mosquito surveillance in the field, vector competence studies in the laboratory, and modeling. These studies led to important insights in the role of climate as a limiting factor to transmission of West Nile virus in Europe. During my postdoc at the Yale School of Public Health, I shifted my focus to using genomics to understand the role of virus evolution in the unexpected scale and severity of the Zika virus epidemic in the Americas. Using a reverse genetics platform, we engineered Zika virus mutations and determined their impact on transmission by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes in the laboratory. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I temporarily shifted my research focus to utilize my expertise in molecular virology and genomics to respond to a global public health emergency. Our team led the laboratory development of a saliva-based test called SalivaDirect that received Emergency Use Authorization from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and we established the Yale SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Surveillance Initiative through which >25,000 SARS-CoV-2 samples were sequenced. Building on these experiences, we recently developed amplicon sequencing approaches for emerging viruses (i.e., human monkeypox virus) and arboviruses (i.e., dengue virus and Powassan virus) to uncover their patterns of emergence and spread.

In the Vogels Lab, we use experimental approaches to study the ecology, evolution, and epidemiology of arthropod-borne (arbo)viruses. By combining field, laboratory, and computational approaches, we investigate how complex interactions between arboviruses, their vectors, and the environment influence their transmission dynamics. Our goal is to increase our understanding of the drivers and barriers of arbovirus transmission to improve prevention and control strategies.