Rate My Professor Stephanie Waller

Dr. Stephanie Waller is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Geoghegan Lab within the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Faculty of Biomedical Sciences, Health Sciences Division, at the University of Otago. She earned her PhD from the University of Otago in February 2024 with a thesis titled "Exploring New Zealand's Virosphere," which investigated viral diversity across New Zealand's ecosystems using advanced metatranscriptomic approaches. Prior to her doctorate, she completed research documented in her 2019 work "Growth Inhibition of Mycobacteria by Innate Lymphoid Cells" submitted to the Department of Microbiology and Immunology.

Waller's research focuses on evolutionary virology, encompassing the surveillance of avian influenza viruses, crustacean viruses, and broader virosphere exploration in wild birds, subantarctic territories, offshore islands, cockles, and spiny lobsters. Her work employs genomics and metatranscriptomics to assess viral transmission dynamics, diversity, and pandemic risks, contributing to preparedness for highly pathogenic avian influenza in Aotearoa New Zealand. Key publications include "Avian Influenza Virus Surveillance Across New Zealand Wild Birds" (2025, Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses), "A Novel Crustavirus as a Candidate Aetiology of Tail Fan Necrosis Disease in Spiny Lobsters" (2025), "Rapid GeneXpert surveillance of influenza A virus in Aotearoa New Zealand" (2026, bioRxiv), "Longitudinal sampling of New Zealand cockles (Austrovenus stutchburyi) reveals high diversity of crustacean-infecting viruses," and co-authorship in the "Consensus statement from the first RdRp Summit" (2024, Frontiers in Virology). She has presented seminars such as "Exploring New Zealand's Virosphere" (2024), "Microbiology seminar on metatranscriptomic survey of wild birds" (2025), and public talks on "Genomics to the Rescue: Preparing Aotearoa for highly pathogenic avian influenza" (2025) at events like Thirst for Knowledge and Rotary Club of Mosgiel. Awards include the D.G. Catcheside Prize 2025 for top Australasian doctoral student in genetics (Genetics Society of Australasia), first place in the poster section at the 2023 Biomedical Sciences Postgraduate Symposium, and a Genetics Otago Student Poster Award (2023), along with travel scholarships for conferences like AVS11.