Lauren Childs
- Department of Mathematics
- College of Science
Research Interest:
Mathematical and Computational Modeling
Synopsis:
Dr. Childs’ research focuses on developing and analyzing mathematical and computational models for a better understanding of the pathogenesis and spread of tropical infectious diseases, such as malaria and dengue. Her research emphasizes the interactions within a host organism, such as between an invading pathogen and the immune response.
Description:
Dr. Childs generates and investigates models describing the dynamics of pathogen populations within hosts, and incorporates these models and their output into population-wide measures. Such frameworks examine variation in infectiousness across a pathogen lifecycle to determine the impact at a population level. Some specific modeling involved interactions between Plasmodium falciparum (one of the most deadly of all malaria species) and the human immune system, including variation in both human factors and parasite traits. Other frameworks have modeled within host mosquito dynamics, to consider the development of malaria parasites and the impact of novel techniques of mosquito control including Wolbachia infection, ingested ecdysteroid (20E) agonists, and antimalarial drugs such as atovaquone. Additional models looked at epidemiological dynamics and compared, for example, the effectiveness of quarantine and symptom monitoring during Ebola outbreaks, and the role of mosquito-based and sexual-based routes in Zika transmission. Recent work has focused on the modeling of mosquito development and the impact of mosquito population variation on disease transmission.