Assistant Professor, Department of Infectious Diseases Dr. Sundaram is a quantitative ecologist who uses computational tools and big data approaches to study where viruses occur and which hosts carry pathogens. She uses machine learning methods to piece together a complete picture of virus replication and outbreak occurrence. The mechanisms underlying these questions usually involve a plethora of factors, such as competition, predation, biogeography, host cell receptor sequences, nutrition, immune defenses, host ecology, human socioeconomic conditions and anthropogenic pressures arising from changes in land-use. The Sundaram lab quantitatively integrates these myriad factors using data from different disciplines and scales to explore where viruses occur and where to expect pandemics. Research in the lab is currently focused on forecasting future epidemics and pandemics. To further this work, active areas of research include: Developing informed machine learning algorithms to forecast infectious diseases Generating predictive socioeconomic GIS layers Quantifying zoonotic potential of different groups of animals. Interested students are encouraged to reach out to Dr. Mekala Sundaram. To learn more about the lab, our webpage is mekalasundaram.com. Education: PhD in Quantitative Ecology MS in Conservation Biology BSc in Life Sciences and Biochemistry Personal Website: https://www.mekalasundaram.com/
