My research interests are in statistical genetics, particularly in the inference of phylogenetic trees from nucleotide sequence data. My research in this area is focused around the combination of data at the between and within species levels by combining models from phylogenetics and population genetics, particularly the coalescent model. My most recent work involves the application of techniques from algebraic statistics to problems in phylogenetic inference. I have also worked on problems involving linkage and QTL analysis, and the analysis of microarray data.

Laura Kubatko joined the statistics faculty in 2006, and holds a joint appointment in the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology at Ohio State. Her other appointments include Adjunct Research Scientist at Lovelace Respiratory Research Institute in Albuquerque, New Mexico, Faculty Affiliate of the Initiative in Population Research at Ohio State, Faculty Affiliate of the Battelle Center for Mathematical Medicine at Nationwide Children's Hospital, and Faculty Affiliate for Translational Data Analytics at Ohio State. She has served as an Associate Editor for Systematic Biology since 2007, as an Associate Editor for Evolution from 2008 - 2010, and as Section Editor for BMC Evolutionary Biology since September 2016. Her work is supported by several grants from the National Science Foundation.