Dynamic models for host-pathogen interactions

I use mathematical and statistical models to help with the design, analysis and interpretation of empirical studies of infectious disease dynamics. My research falls into two main areas:

1. Within-host dynamics of bacterial infections.

Laboratory animal models provide important data on the dynamics of bacterial infection inside a living organism, but observations are limited. Using mathematical models, my aim is to extract as much information as possible from experimental data to make inference about the unobserved processes that drive the spatiotemporal dynamics of bacteria. In particular, I try to assess variations in the replication and death rates of bacteria, and their spread within and among tissues.

Team members: David Price (postdoc), Myrto Vlazaki (PhD student), John Huber (MPhil student).

My work covers several bacterial pathogens thanks to a fantastic network of collaborators:

- Salmonella enterica, with Andrew Grant and Piero Mastroeni (in this Department), Dirk Bumann (Basel University), Emma Slack and Wolf Hardt (ETH Zurich).

- Bordetella bronchiseptica, with Eric Harvill (Penn State University)

Funding: BBSRC, MRC.

2. Wildlife epidemiology.

The emergence of new viruses from bats in the last 30 years has drawn the attention of a broad scientific community to the ecology and immunology of this diverse group of mammals. We have established a successful international collaboration centred in Ghana to study African fruit bats, their ecology, their viruses and their interactions with people.

Team members: Romain Garnier (AXA research fellow), Emma Glennon (PhD student).

Collaborators:

- Osbourne Quaye (University of Ghana)

- Andrew Cunningham (Institute of Zoology, ZSL)

- Raina Plowright (Montana State University)

- Hamish McCallum and Alison Peel (Griffith University)

 Funding: NSF, The Royal Society, AXA Foundation.

Key Publications

• Transmission or Within-Host Dynamics Driving Pulses of Zoonotic Viruses in Reservoir–Host Populations RK Plowright, AJ Peel, DG Streicker, AT Gilbert, H McCallum, J Wood, M Baker and O Restif (2016) PLOS Negl Trop Dis 10 (8), e0004796
• Within-host dynamics of infection: from ecological insights to evolutionary predictions. O Restif, AL Graham (2015) Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 370.
• The Effects of Vaccination and Immunity on Bacterial Infection Dynamics In Vivo. Coward C, Restif O et al. (2014)  PLoS Pathogens, 10(9): e1004359.
• The effect of seasonal birth pulses on pathogen persistence in wild mammal populations. AJ Peel, JRC Pulliam, AD Luis, RK Plowright, TJ O'Shea, DTS Hayman, JLN Wood, CT Webb, O Restif (2014) Proc R Soc B, 281:20132962.
• Model‐guided fieldwork: practical guidelines for multidisciplinary research on wildlife ecological and epidemiological dynamics. Restif O et al. (2012) Ecology Letters 15:1083.
• Evolutionary epidemiology 20 years on: Challenges and prospects. Restif O (2009) Infection, Genetics and Evolution 9 (1): 108-23.
• Modelling within-host spatiotemporal dynamics of invasive bacterial disease. Grant AJ, Restif O, McKinley TJ, Sheppard M, Maskell DJ, Mastroeni P (2008)  PLoS Biology 6:e74