Christian Mason

Title

Biomathematcis PhD student
UCLA Department of Computational Medicine

Education

M.S. in Biomathematics, UCLA
B.S. in Mathematical and Computational Biology, Harvey Mudd College

Website

ctmason.bol.ucla.edu

Email

ctmason@ucla.edu

Understanding pathogen emergence can be key to predicting whether an outbreak will occur within a population. Many different factors influence the ability of a pathogen to cause these outbreaks, from properties of growth within the host environment to properties of between host spread. Can we use models that describe both of these scales of evolution in conjunction to inform one another and give us a clearer picture of the probability of an outbreak? Current techniques include stochastic process frameworks as well as systems of differential equations. Future work will focus on the expansion and refinement of these models and application to relevant data.

In general I am interested in many projects that fall on the interface between mathematics and biology. Previous projects include: an automated program for detection of rare bird species through audio files (image processing, machine learning), models for factors affecting population growth in Xantusia vigilis (experimental design, dynamical systems), and a system for localization of surgical instruments in an operating room (RF tracking, Patent No. 62/057,145).