Andrew J. Yates, Ph.D.

Our group combines mathematical and computational methods with experimental data to address questions in immunology, the ecology of host-pathogen interactions and the epidemiology of infectious disease. Our current interests include (i) modeling the dynamics of clearance of pathogen-infected cells by cytotoxic T lymphocytes (CTL), with the aim of establishing a quantitative framework to estimate the numbers of CTL required to provide sterilizing immunity in a given tissue. This work has applications to the early events in HIV infection; (ii) understanding how T cells integrate signals to determine the onset and extent of contraction following antigen-driven clonal responses; (iii) modeling mechanisms of thymocyte selection and naive T cell homeostasis; and (iv) modeling the decision-making underlying the generation of the transmission stage of the Malaria parasite in mammalian hosts.