Bats are the natural reservoirs for henipaviruses, filoviruses, coronaviruses, and other high-consequence pathogens. We have theories about the epidemiology of the viruses they carry, but those theories are hard to test in the field. Captive colonies (Caylee Falvo and I started two) let us test them in controlled settings — usually asking how bat immune systems tolerate infection, and what conditions cause shedding to spike.
The risk of pathogen spillover is rarely stable. We observe seasonal pulses, sudden shifts, and long-term trends in viral shedding from wildlife. Long-term epidemiological surveillance helps us observe these patterns and identify the mechanisms behind them.
There's no shortage of meta-analyses in disease ecology. We tried to bring new tools to the table — phylogenetic methods, graph-partitioning algorithms — to ask better questions about viral spillover risk, and where we should be looking harder for new threats.
Endangered species live on DOD installations across the US and impact operations. We built models to help DOD/DOE land managers assess and respond to this problem.
I have been fortunate to work with collaborators who were developing new statistical and mathematical frameworks (graph-partitioning algorithms for phylogenetic data to methods for reconstructing pathogen prevalence from imperfect samples). These tools have found applications well beyond the projects they were built for.