peopleRéka Albert
Associate Professor of Physics and Biology
Email: ralbert@phys.psu.edu
Phone: 814-865-6123
Fax:
Office: 216 Davey Laboratory
Research
I focus on biophysics and network modeling of biological systems. My group has two major areas of CIDD-related research.
Modeling the interplay between pathogens and the immune system
(with Eric Harvill, Jaewook Joo and Juilee Thakar)
- We are developing network models for pathogen-host interactions in respiratory tract infections caused by bacteria of the genus Bordetella
- We are also modeling the within-host dynamics of Bordetella, focusing on the key process of innate immunity. We are approaching the problem both at a systemic (whole organism) level and at the level of individual host cells (signal transduction)
Epidemiological modeling of infectious diseases on heterogeneous host populations
(with Bryan Grenfell, Eric Harvill, Jaewook Joo and Claire Christensen)
- There is currently considerable interest in the way that diseases spread across social contact networks of their hosts. We are approaching this problem in a distinctive way, in "growing" simple networks for human contact structures which allow for demography and family structure. These should provide a parsimonious model for the spread of disease across family, school, workplace and other social networks. Initially we will explore generic models for a range of infections, then focus on measles and influenza.
» For more details about my research, visit my lab website
CIDD-related teaching
PHYS 597: Graphs and networks in systems biology
Random graphs, scale-free networks, spreading processes on networks, protein interaction networks, signal transduction networks, gene regulatory networks, dynamical modeling.
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