PhD Infectious Disease

We take a highly interdisciplinary approach to the study of infectious disease that combines mathematical and statistical modelling with ecology, evolutionary biology, parasitology, immunology and bioinformatics and the social sciences.

OVERVIEW

The Institute of Biodiversity, Animal Health & Comparative Medicine has considerable strengths in epidemiology, particularly in the areas of quantitative modelling, genetic analysis, surveillance, immunology and vaccinology, antimicrobial resistance, vector ecology and one-health approaches to disease management. Much of our focus is on endemic and 'neglected' diseases, pathogens of veterinary importance, zoonoses, and studying the biology of these pathogens in their natural context, particularly in developing countries.

We take a highly interdisciplinary approach to the study of infectious diseases, recognising that epidemiology is very much the ecology of infectious diseases, and thereby benefiting greatly from overlap with strengths in spatial and quantitative ecology. Our modelling is developed in close proximity to data, and focused on estimation of parameters relevant to dynamics and control using innovative statistical methodologies. The advent of new sequencing technologies will revolutionise the way we study epidemiology, particularly regarding processes that influence disease transmission, which is usually a very 'hidden' process.

Individual research projects are tailored around the expertise of principal investigators within the Institutes. A variety of approaches are used, including ecology, epidemiology, mathematical, computational and statistical modelling, bioinformatics, parasitology, immunology and polyomics (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, metabolomics). Basic and applied science projects are available for study, as are field-based projects with research programs underway in both the UK and overseas. Specific areas of interest include:

• infectious disease dynamics in wild and domestic animal populations
• wildlife diseases and conservation
• network analysis of disease spread
• phylodynamics
• model-based statistical inference using Bayesian approaches
• vector biology, ecology and control
• life-history trade-offs and the sustainable control of malaria
• vaccine development
• quantitative approaches to vaccine selection
• host-parasite interactions and immunogenetics
• wild immunology
• molecular ecology and evolution
• zoonoses and neglected tropical diseases and the science of intervention
• ecosystem and One Health
• social and ecological impacts of disease
• game theory and the design of disease control programs
• antibiotic and anthelminthic resistance
• design of vaccination programs
• within-host pathogen dynamics
• evolutionary game theory
• theory of diversity measurement and its application
• ecology and evolution of emerging infectious diseases
• ecology of multi-host pathogens
• ecology and evolution of vector-borne pathogens
• environmental drivers of pathogen spread
• micro and macro-parasitic infections.