Research Focus
With background in physics/biophysics, mathematical modeling and computational biology, research programs in the laboratory of Dr. Ganusov are diverse and include quantitative understanding of mechanisms driving immune responses to infections. One focus of current research is on understanding how Plasmodium sporozoites, a causative agents of malaria, establish infection in a new host, and how vaccine-induced immunity such as sporozoite-specific antibodies and CD8 T cells interfere with the infection process. In collaborations with various experimental groups Dr. Ganusov’s group is building mathematical models of the infection process and immune response and parameterizes these models using data from intravital microscopy experiments. Another focus of the research is on how Mycobacterium tuberculosis establishes the infection and disseminates in the lung and to extrapulmonary sites. Dissemination of bacteria is tracked using an ultra low dose infection of mice and the use of barcoded strains of Mtb. Other areas of interest include mathematical modeling of T lymphocyte recirculation in the whole body, regulation of bacterial cell division, virus cooperativity at infection of cells and when spreading in plants. Dr. Ganusov’s research is supported primarily by the NIH.