Research in our group

Microbes, such as bacteria and viruses, evolve very quickly... and do so in beautiful and surprising ways! One of the main goals in our research group is to model this process mathematically. This is exciting because the mathematical models allow us to make concrete predictions about evolution.

In particular, we are interested in the fate of new mutations that arise during adaptation. New mutations may help the microbe to adapt to changing climates, to infect a new host, or to develop resistance to antibiotics.

Here's a short video I made about a new research project: the best ways to vaccinate a population if you have more than one vaccine:

Another research project I'm working on shows how changing the mutation "spectrum" (what kinds of mutations occur) can make it easier for bacteria to evolve. You can read our preprint here. If your training is more mathematical than biological, the short video below gives some background ideas that might be helpful (and makes some arithmetical mistakes!).

My other research interests include:
mobile genetic elements,
in-host modelling of HIV,
and many other applications of mathematics to biology.

My publications are listed here. I also keep a list of publications organized by research topic, which is out-of-date but gives an idea of previous work in the group.

People in the group publications graduate work? my former garage band
(these four photos are links; you can hover and click to find out more)