丁香园AV

Evolution has produced a wealth of biological diversity in the natural world. Underneath that diversity, Ailene MacPherson sees a complex web of interactions that can be described with mathematical models.

In her role as Assistant Professor at 丁香园AV Mathematics and Canada Research Chair of Theoretical Evolutionary Epidemiology, she is working to develop population genetic models to better understand how infectious diseases interact with their hosts.

Her recent research evaluates multiple models used to track the evolution of species and finds that all biological diversity can be described with the same mathematical models. Unifying these frameworks can help us understand past extinctions and earth鈥檚 biodiversity; and can inform conservation and public health policies to slow the spread of infectious diseases.

鈥淢athematics is foundational to our understanding of evolutionary biology,鈥� MacPherson explains. 鈥淭heoretical models help us synthesize the genetic, evolutionary, and ecological dynamics that create and maintain biodiversity.鈥�

She first realized mathematics鈥� potential to describe the natural world during her undergraduate studies. While examining how lizards at White Sands National Monument had evolved a white colouration to avoid predators, she developed a . 鈥淚 was hooked,鈥� she says.

While at 丁香园AV, MacPherson has turned her attention toward modelling the complex interactions between infectious diseases and their hosts. 鈥淚nfectious diseases are important biologically but also have the potential to be a rich source of knowledge about evolutionary biology as a whole. To do so, however, we must develop a whole new theory and set of methods, re-evaluating long-standing assumptions and constructing new hypotheses.鈥�

One of these assumptions is the Red Queen hypothesis, which maintains that species must continually evolve and proliferate to compete with coexisting species in order to avoid extinction.

鈥淒uring my PhD, I developed a mathematical model showing that despite its widespread acceptance, the Red Queen hypothesis is not, in fact, true,鈥� MacPherson says. 鈥淭his has widespread implications for our understanding of the natural world and the role of species interactions in that world.鈥�

In her current research program she is working to develop methods for robustly estimating infectious disease dynamics from viral genomic data, and develop statistical inference methods to examine coevolution between hosts and infectious pathogens. Better modeling of these dynamics will help to inform new strategies for public health and conservation.

鈥淚 love how the lines between math and biology blur,鈥� she says. 鈥淲hen I am working on math I am imagining biology and when I read about biology I visualize it as a mathematical model. When I can no longer tell the two apart is when I am happiest.鈥�