Amber Smith, PhD
Education
- BS, 2003 Mathematical and Computer Science: Colorado School of Mines
- MS, 2005 Mathematics: University of Utah
- PhD, 2009 Mathematics: University of Utah
- Postdoc, 2012 Theoretical Biology and Biophysics: Los Alamos National Laboratory
- Postdoc, 2014 Infectious Diseases: St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Research Interests
Our research is aimed at understanding respiratory infection kinetics and pathogenicity using a combination of computational and experimental methods. We develop and employ data-driven mathematical models and model-driven experimental designs to dissect, predict, and treat complex host-pathogen and pathogen-pathogen interactions during influenza virus infections, pneumococcal infections, and influenza-pneumococcal coinfections. One focus area is to determine how various pathogen factors (e.g., bacterial genes) and host immune responses (e.g., alveolar macrophages, neutrophils, type I interferons, and CD8+ T cells) contribute to limiting pathogen growth and enhancing susceptibility and severity of multi-pathogen infections. Other focus areas include establishing how these factors contribute to acute lung injury and disease severity and identifying new therapeutic strategies.