Postdoc: Modeling Population Genetics for Suppression of Mosquito-Vectored
Diseases
PROJECT DESCRIPTION: Dengue is a mosquito-vectored disease that affects over
100 million
people each year. With funding from the NIH, FNIH, and W. M. Keck Foundation,
we have developed
a set of mathematical models ranging from simple to complex, aimed at assisting
the design and
deployment of novel approaches for suppressing transmission of dengue by its
major mosquito
vector, Aedes aegypti. We are especially interested in evaluating the
potential utility and risks
associated with using genetically engineered, selfish genetic elements to drive
genes into mosquito
populations that render them incapable of transmitting dengue fever or decrease
mosquito
density. Our new work also extends to models relevant to suppressing malaria.
New developments in molecular genetics promise to increase the
efficiency of building
gene drive systems with novel properties. The postdoc in this position will
build a set of simple to
complex models to examine the expected dynamics of these gene drive systems in
mosquitoes
and other taxa.
The most detailed model that we have developed simulates the
population dynamics and
population genetics of Ae. aegypti in a city on the Amazon river, Iquitos, for
which there are rich
data sets on both mosquito dynamics and dengue epidemiology. An accompanying
epidemiological model is currently under development. The goals of two other
postdocs in our
group are to expand the mosquito model and the human epidemiology model to
encompass the
entire city of about 400,000 people. The postdoc in this new position will also
collaborate with the
other postdocs to use these detailed models to test gene drive systems.
In addition to working on model development and analysis, the
person in this position will
collaborate in an interdisciplinary research group composed of mosquito
ecologists, disease
epidemiologists, molecular biologists, biomathematicians, ethicists, and
scientists from disease-
endemic countries. The person in this position will have the opportunity to
visit Iquitos to better
understand one of the systems being modeled. Desirable skills include the
ability to program in
C++ or knowledge of a related programming language, and training in evaluation
of mechanistic
models.
To apply: email a cover letter and CV to [email protected]
For more details on the project see the following publications:
Esvelt, K. M., A. L. Smidler, F. Catteruccia, G. M. Church. 2014. Concerning
RNA-guided gene
drives for the alteration of wild populations. eLife. 10.7554/eLife.03401.
Oye, K. A. et al. 2014. Regulating gene drives. Science. 345:626-628 Published
online 17 July 2014
Huang, Y., Lloyd, A.L., Legros, M., Gould, F. 2010. Gene-drive into insect
populations with age and
spatial structure: a theoretical assessment. Evol. Appl. ISSN 1752-4571.
Gould, F., Huang, Y., Legros, M., Lloyd, A. L. 2008. A killer-rescue system for
self-limiting gene
drive of anti-pathogen constructs. Proc. Royal. Soc. Lond. B. 275:2823-2829.
Magori, K., M. Legros, M. Puente, D. A. Focks, T. W. Scott, A. Lloyd, F,
Gould. 2009. Skeeter Buster:
a stochastic, spatially-explicit modeling tool for studying Aedes aegypti
population replacement
and population suppression strategies. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 3(9): e508.
doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0000508
Okamoto KW, Robert MA, Gould F, Lloyd AL (2014) Feasible Introgression of an
Anti-pathogen
Transgene into an Urban Mosquito Population without Using Gene-Drive. PLoS Negl
Trop Dis 8(7):
e2827. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0002827
