Computational Biology and Disease Modeling

Computational biology and mathematical modeling are essential in advancing our understanding of pathogen dynamics and disease spread. They can help uncover mechanisms of protection and markers of disease. They can inform optimal experimental design and predict optimal pharmaceutical and non-pharmaceutical interventions.

Aimed at describing the principles of infectious disease spread in a quantitative manner, mathematical, computational, and statistical models are built to represent the biological phenomenon in an abstract form that can be simulated, validated against data, and used to create testable hypotheses. Ultimately, the theoretical framework can be used to make predictions, test perturbations, and design interventions.

Scientists in the CeZAP Computational Biology and Disease Modeling Thematic Area at Virginia Tech are developing mathematical and computational models of pathogen dynamics, pathogen evolution, host-pathogen interactions, and infection disease spread to help focus and guide empirical and translational efforts to combat and control disease outbreaks.

Highlight Research relating to the specific thematic area:

• Sanket Deshmukh, Anne Brown, Andrew Lowell, and James Weger-Lucarelli published a study focusing on using computer algorithms to find molecular adaptations to improve COVID-19 drugs.
• Anne Brown received an NSF CAREER award for using computational modeling to study amyloid interactions
• T.M. Murali is the director of the Destination Area on Pandemic Prediction and Prevention
• Sanket Deshmukh received an NSF CAREER award to study and design hybrid materials with the aid of AI
• Stanca Ciupe and Nisha Duggal help uncover host-vector-pathogen dynamics at different scales of Usutu virus infection
• Stanca Ciupe and Xin Luo use mathematical models to determine the mechanisms of immune abnormality in Lupus disease
• Leah Johnson investigates the effect of temperature on vector-borne disease transmission
• Kate Langwig investigates the impact of infectious disease in ecological communities
• Omar Saucedo and Luis Escobar investigate the impact of the spillover of a wildlife disease on humans

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