Olivier Restif

I lead a multidisciplinary team working on multiple aspects of infectious disease dynamics in people and animals. We develop mathematical models to simulate the dynamics of diseases, either within an infected animal or across populations. We use diverse datasets through collaborations with microbiologists who study bacterial infections in the laboratory, and with ecologists who track diseases in wildlife.

1. Within-host dynamics of bacterial infections.
Laboratory animal models provide important data on the dynamics of bacterial infection inside a living organism, but observations are limited. Using mathematical models, my aim is to extract as much information as possible from experimental data to make inference about the unobserved processes that drive the spatiotemporal dynamics of bacteria. In particular, I try to assess variations in the replication and death rates of bacteria, and their spread within and among tissues.

2. Quantitative tools for multi-drug resistance in farm animals
Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major threat to human and animal health. Multi-drug resistance is a particular concern, and is increasingly reported using genetic (sequencing) or phenotypic (growth inhibition assay) tools. However, analysing and interpreting these complex datasets requires sophisticated and ofter tailor-made computational techniques. We are investigating the epidemiology and evolution of multi-drug resistance in pathogenic, commensal and zoonotic bacterial pathogens in farm animals.

3. Wildlife and zoonotic disease ecology.
The emergence of new viruses from bats in the last 30 years has drawn the attention of a broad scientific community to the ecology and immunology of this diverse group of mammals. We have established a successful international collaboration centred in Ghana to study African fruit bats, their ecology, their viruses and their interactions with people.