Selected Publications

Protein quality control is a master modulator of molecular evolution in bacteria

Diaz Arenas, Carolina, Alvarez, Maristella, Wilson, Robert H, Shakhnovich, Eugene I, & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2025)

Genome Biology and Evolution, evaf010, Oxford University Press.  

An Enigmatic Wild Passerine Mortality Event in the Eastern United States

Greening, Sabrina S, Ellis, Julie C, Lewis, Nicole L, Needle, David B, Tato, Cristina M, Knowles, Susan, Shearn-Bochsler, Valerie, Miller, Jaimie L, Grear, Daniel A, Lorch, Jeffrey M, & others

(2025)

Veterinary Sciences, 12, 48, MDPI.  

Structural causal influence (SCI) captures the forces of social inequality in models of disease dynamics

Surasinghe, Sudam, Manivannan, Swathi Nachiar, Scarpino, Samuel V, Crawford, Lorin, & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2024)

arXiv preprint arXiv:2409.09096.  

On modes of disease transmission and the hidden shape of pandemics: A review of Asymptomatic by Joshua Weitz

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2024)

Virus Evolution, veae109, Oxford University Press UK.  

A meta-analysis highlights the idiosyncratic nature of tradeoffs in laboratory models of virus evolution

Kabengele, Ketty, Turner, Wendy C, Turner, Paul E, & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2024)

Virus Evolution, veae105, Oxford University Press UK.  

Population Health Implications of Medicaid Prerelease and Transition Services for Incarcerated Populations

Chin, Elizabeth T, Liu, Yiran E, Ogbunu, C Brandon, & Basu, Sanjay

(2024)

The Milbank Quarterly, Wiley Online Library.  

Genome-wide association study between SARS-CoV-2 single nucleotide polymorphisms and virus copies during infections

Li, Ke, Chaguza, Chrispin, Stamp, Julian, Chew, Yi Ting, Chen, Nicholas FG, Ferguson, David, Pandya, Sameer, Kerantzas, Nick, Schulz, Wade, Yale SARS-CoV-2 Genomic Surveillance Initiative, & others

(2024)

PLOS Computational Biology, 20, e1012469, Public Library of Science San Francisco, CA USA.  

Evolutionary Invasion Analysis of Modern Epidemics Highlights the Context-Dependence of Virulence Evolution

Surasinghe, Sudam, Kabengele, Ketty, Turner, Paul E, & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2024)

Bulletin of Mathematical Biology.  

Environment by environment interactions (ExE) differ across genetic backgrounds (ExExG)

Schmidlin, Kara, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, & Geiler-Samerotte, Kerry

(2024)

bioRxiv, 2024--05, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.  

Birds affected by a 2021 avian mortality event are strongly associated with supplemental feeding and ground foraging behaviors

Ayala, Andrea J, Baillargeon, Tessa, Gordon, Lawrence, Greening, Sabrina, Mwakibete, Lusajo, Sevigny, Joseph, Burrell, Caitlin, Casey, Christine, Driscoll, Cindy, Klein, Patrice, & others

(2024)

bioRxiv, 2024--05, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.  

Towards a fundamental theory of taxon transitions in microbial communities

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon & Yitbarek, Senay

(2024)

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121, e2400433121, National Acad Sciences.  

Metagenomics for Pathogen Detection During a Mass Mortality Event in Songbirds

Mwakibete, Lusajo, Greening, Sabrina S, Kalantar, Katrina, Ahyong, Vida, Anis, Eman, Miller, Erica A, Needle, David B, Oglesbee, Michael, Thomas, W Kelley, Sevigny, Joseph L, & others

(2024)

Journal of Wildlife Diseases, Wildife Disease Association.  

Environmental modulation of global epistasis in a drug resistance fitness landscape

Diaz-Colunga, Juan, Sanchez, Alvaro, & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2023)

Nature Communications, 14, 8055, Nature Publishing Group UK London.  

The dose makes the poison and the lesson

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2023)

Evolution, Oxford University Press US.  

Mutations that enhance evolvability may open doors to faster adaptation

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2023)

nature communications, 14, 6310, Nature Publishing Group UK London.  

Epistasis and pleiotropy shape biophysical protein subspaces associated with drug resistance

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, Guerrero, Rafael F, Miller-Dickson, Miles D, Shakhnovich, Eugene I, & Shoulders, Matthew D

(2023)

Physical Review E, 108, 054408, APS.  

Viral Evolution Shaped by Host Proteostasis Networks

Yoon, Jimin, Patrick, Jessica E, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, & Shoulders, Matthew D

(2023)

Annual Review of Virology, 10, Annual Reviews.  

Deconstructing taxa x taxa x environment interactions in the microbiota: A theoretical examination

Yitbarek, Senay, Guittar, John, A Knutie, Sarah, & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2019)

iScience, Elsevier.  

Meteorological associations of Vibrio vulnificus clinical infections in tropical settings: Correlations with air pressure, wind speed, and temperature

Ayala, Andrea J, Kabengele, Ketty, Almagro-Moreno, Salvador, & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2023)

PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 17, e0011461, Public Library of Science San Francisco, CA USA.  

Awakening innovations in biology and culture

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2023)

Nature Publishing Group UK London.  

Undue publicity for flawed fraud detector

Bergstrom, Carl T & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2023)

Science, 381, 134--134, American Association for the Advancement of Science.  

What do you most want to understand about how collective features emerge in microbial communities?

Segrè, Daniel, Mitri, Sara, Shou, Wenying, Süel, Gür ol M, Mizrahi, Itzhak, Kelly, Libusha, Rebolleda-Gómez, María, Ratzke, Christoph, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, Schwartzman, Julia A, & others

(2023)

Cell Systems, 14, 91--97, Elsevier.  

Exploring the expanse between theoretical questions and experimental approaches in the modern study of evolvability

Draghi, Jeremy A & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2023)

Journal of Experimental Zoology Part B: Molecular and Developmental Evolution, 340, 8--17, Wiley Online Library.  

COVID-19 amplified racial disparities in the US criminal legal system

Klein, Brennan, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, Schafer, Benjamin J, Bhadricha, Zarana, Kori, Preeti, Sheldon, Jim, Kaza, Nitish, Sharma, Arush, Wang, Emily A, Eliassi-Rad, Tina, & others

(2023)

Nature, 1--7, Nature Publishing Group UK London.  

Limited Outbreak of Highly Pathogenic Influenza A (H5N1) in Herring Gull Colony, Canada, 2022.

Taylor, Liam U, Ronconi, Robert A, Spina, Hayley A, Jones, Megan EB, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, & Ayala, Andrea J

(2023)

Emerging Infectious Diseases, 29.  

When Vibrios Take Flight: A Meta-Analysis of Pathogenic Vibrio Species in Wild and Domestic Birds

Ayala, Andrea J & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2023)

Vibrio spp. Infections, 295--336, Springer.  

Pathogen Emergence As Complex Biological Invasion: Lessons From Dynamical Systems Modeling

Surasinghe, Sudam, Rodriguez, Marisabel, Meszaros, Victor, Molofksy, Jane, Almagro-Moreno, Salvador, & Ogbunugafor, Brandon

(2023)

Northeast Journal of Complex Systems (NEJCS), 5, 4.  

Molecular mechanisms and drivers of pathogen emergence

Balasubramanian, Deepak, López-Pérez, Mario, Grant, Trudy-Ann, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, & Almagro-Moreno, Salvador

(2022)

Trends in Microbiology, 30, 898--911, Elsevier.  

The mutation effect reaction norm (mu-rn) highlights environmentally dependent mutation effects and epistatic interactions

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2022)

Evolution, 76, 37--48, Blackwell Publishing Inc Malden, USA.  

The endoplasmic reticulum proteostasis network profoundly shapes the protein sequence space accessible to HIV envelope

Yoon, Jimin, Nekongo, Emmanuel E, Patrick, Jessica E, Hui, Tiffani, Phillips, Angela M, Ponomarenko, Anna I, Hendel, Samuel J, Sebastian, Rebecca M, Zhang, Yu Meng, Butty, Vincent L, & others

(2022)

PLoS Biology, 20, e3001569, Public Library of Science San Francisco, CA USA.  

Gattaca as a lens on contemporary genetics: marking 25 years into the film’s “not-too-distant” future

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon & Edge, Michael D

(2022)

Genetics, 222, iyac142, Oxford University Press.  

Reversion is most likely under high mutation supply when compensatory mutations do not fully restore fitness costs

Pennings, Pleuni S, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, & Hershberg, Ruth

(2022)

G3, 12, jkac190, Oxford University Press.  

DNA, basketball, and birthday luck. A review of The genetic lottery: Why DNA matters for social equality. By Kathryn Paige Harden, 2021, US: Princeton University Press. 312 pp. ISBN: 9780691190808 (Hardcover)

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2022)

American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 179, 501, Wiley-Blackwell.  

An Epidemic Analogy Highlights the Importance of Targeted Community Engagement in Spaces Susceptible to Misinformation

Osman, Aya & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2022)

Frontiers in Communication, 7, 824682, Frontiers.  

Immunity-induced criticality of the genotype network of influenza A (H3N2) hemagglutinin

Williams, Blake JM, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, Althouse, Benjamin M, & H{'e

(2022)

PNAS nexus, 1, pgac143, Oxford University Press.  

Limits On The Information Acquired By An Evolving Population

Miller-Dickson, Miles, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, & Rose, Christopher

(2022)

arXiv preprint arXiv:2208.00911.  

A phylogenetic approach to studying the roles of within-host evolution and between-host transmission of resistance for clinical Escherichia coli infections

Van Nouhuijs, Florentine, Arakkal Antony, MaryGracy, Orcales, Faye, Gozashti, Landen, Roy, Scott W, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, & Pennings, Pleuni S

(2022)

bioRxiv, 2022--12, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.  

Higher-order interactions in biology: the curious case of epistasis

Brandon Ogbunugafor, C & Scarpino, Samuel V

(2022)

Higher-order systems, 417--433, Springer.  

Cholera dynamics: lessons from an epidemic

Balasubramanian, Deepak, Murcia, Sebastian, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, Gavilan, Ronnie, & Almagro-Moreno, Salvador

(2021)

Journal of medical microbiology, 70, 001298, Microbiology Society.  

Direct transmission via households informs models of disease and intervention dynamics in cholera

Meszaros, Victor A, Miller-Dickson, Miles D, Baffour-Awuah, Francis, Almagro-Moreno, Salvador, & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2020)

PLoS One, 15, e0229837, Public Library of Science San Francisco, CA USA.  

A reflection on 50 years of John Maynard Smith’s “Protein Space”

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2020)

Genetics, 214, 749--754, Oxford University Press.  

Variation in microparasite free-living survival and indirect transmission can modulate the intensity of emerging outbreaks

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, Miller-Dickson, Miles D, Meszaros, Victor A, Gomez, Lourdes M, Murillo, Anarina L, & Scarpino, Samuel V

(2020)

Scientific reports, 10, 20786, Nature Publishing Group UK London.  

The epidemiological signature of pathogen populations that vary in the relationship between free-living parasite survival and virulence

Gomez, Lourdes M, Meszaros, Victor A, Turner, Wendy C, & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2020)

Viruses, 12, 1055, MDPI.  

Variation in SARS-CoV-2 free-living survival and environmental transmission can modulate the intensity of COVID-19 outbreaks

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, Miller-Dickson, Miles, Meszaros, Victor A, Gomez, Lourdes M, Murillo, Anarina L, & Scarpino, Samuel V

(2020)

medRxiv, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Preprints.  

Experimental evolution for niche breadth in bacteriophage T4 highlights the importance of structural genes

Pham, Jenny Y, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, Nguyen Ba, Alex N, & Hartl, Daniel L

(2020)

MicrobiologyOpen, 9, e968, Wiley Online Library.  

The epidemiological signature of pathogen populations that vary in the relationship between free-living parasite survival and virulence

Gomez, Lourdes M, Meszaros, Victor A, Turner, Wendy C, & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2020)

Viruses, 12, 1055, MDPI.  

Proteostasis environment shapes higher-order epistasis operating on antibiotic resistance

Guerrero, Rafael F, Scarpino, Samuel V, Rodrigues, João V, Hartl, Daniel L, & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2019)

Genetics, 212, 565--575, Oxford University Press.  

Genetic background modifies the topography of a fitness landscape, influencing the dynamics of adaptive evolution

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon & Eppstein, Margaret J

(2019)

IEEE Access, 7, 113675--113683, IEEE.  

Lexical landscapes as large in silico data for examining advanced properties of fitness landscapes

Meszaros, Victor A, Miller-Dickson, Miles D, & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2019)

Plos one, 14, e0220891, Public Library of Science San Francisco, CA USA.  

Chimeric dihydrofolate reductases display properties of modularity and biophysical diversity

Rodrigues, João V, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, Hartl, Daniel L, & Shakhnovich, Eugene I

(2019)

Protein Science, 28, 1359--1367, Wiley Online Library.  

Adaptive landscape by environment interactions dictate evolutionary dynamics in models of drug resistance

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, Wylie, C Scott, Diakite, Ibrahim, Weinreich, Daniel M, & Hartl, Daniel L

(2016)

PLoS computational biology, 12, e1004710, Public Library of Science San Francisco, CA USA.  

Competition along trajectories governs adaptation rates towards antimicrobial resistance

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon & Eppstein, Margaret J

(2016)

Nature ecology & evolution, 1, 0007, Nature Publishing Group UK London.  

Delayed transmission selects for increased survival of vesicular stomatitis virus

Wasik, Brian R, Bhushan, Ambika, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, & Turner, Paul E

(2015)

Evolution, 69, 117--125, Blackwell Publishing Inc Malden, USA.  

A pivot mutation impedes reverse evolution across an adaptive landscape for drug resistance in Plasmodium vivax

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon & Hartl, Daniel

(2016)

Malaria Journal, 15, 1--10, Springer.  

A new take on John Maynard Smith's concept of protein space for understanding molecular evolution

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon & Hartl, Daniel L

(2016)

PLoS computational biology, 12, e1005046, Public Library of Science San Francisco, CA USA.  

Waterborne, abiotic and other indirectly transmitted (WAIT) infections are defined by the dynamics of free-living pathogens and environmental reservoirs

Miller-Dickson, Miles D, Meszaros, Victor A, Junior, Francis Baffour-Awuah, Almagro-Moreno, Salvador, & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2019)

bioRxiv, 525089, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.  

OFFl models: Novel schema for dynamical modeling of biological systems

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon & Robinson, Sean P

(2016)

Plos one, 11, e0156844, Public Library of Science San Francisco, CA USA.  

Quantifying deception: A case study in the evolution of antimicrobial resistance

Eppstein, Margaret J & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2016)

Proceedings of the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference 2016, 101--108.  

Robustness promotes evolvability of thermotolerance in an RNA virus

McBride, Robert C, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, & Turner, Paul E

(2008)

BMC evolutionary biology, 8, 1--14, Springer.  

Regulation of oviposition in Anopheles gambiae ss: role of inter-and intra-specific signals

Sumba, Leunita A, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, Deng, Arop L, & Hassanali, Ahmed

(2008)

Journal of chemical ecology, 34, 1430--1436, Springer.  

Anopheles gambiae exploits the treehole ecosystem in western Kenya: a new urban malaria risk?

Omlin, Francois X, Carlson, John C, Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, & Hassanali, Ahmed

(2007)

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene.  

Predicting virus evolution: the relationship between genetic robustness and evolvability of thermotolerance

Ogbunugafor, CB, McBride, RC, & Turner, PE

(2009)

Cold Spring Harbor symposia on quantitative biology, 74, 109--118.  

Behavioral evidence for the existence of a region-specific oviposition cue in Anopheles gambiae ss

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon & Sumba, Leunita

(2008)

Journal of Vector Ecology, 33, 321--324, BioOne.  

How evidence can be used to inform policy: A case study of early childhood evidence-based policy development

Britto, Pia Rebello, Cerezo, Adrian, & Ogbunugafor, C Brandon

(2008)

International Journal of Early Childhood, 40, 101--118, Springer.  

On the possible role of robustness in the evolution of infectious diseases

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, Pease, James B, & Turner, Paul E

(2010)

Chaos: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science, 20, AIP Publishing.  

Combining mathematics and empirical data to predict emergence of RNA viruses that differ in reservoir use

Ogbunugafor, C Brandon, Basu, Sanjay, Morales, Nadya M, & Turner, Paul E

(2010)

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 365, 1919--1930, The Royal Society.  

On reductionism in biology: pillars, leaps, and the naïve behavioral scientist

Ogbunugafor, CB

(2004)

The Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine, 77, 101, Yale Journal of Biology and Medicine.