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Angela (Angie) Luis
Study systems include
Deer mice (Peromyscus maniculatus)
Sin Nombre Virus
Selected publications
Luis AD & Hudson PJ (2006). Hibernation patterns in mammals: a role for bacterial growth? Functional Ecology 20: 471-477
Hickman-Miller HD, Bardet W, Gilb A, Luis AD, Jackson KW, Watkins DI & Hildebrand WH (2005). Rhesus macaque MHC class I molecules present HLA-B like peptides. Journal of Immunology 175: 367-375
Hickman HD, Luis AD, Buchli R, Few SR, Sathiamurthy M, VanGundy RS, Giberson CF & Hildebrand WH (2004). Toward a definition of self: proteomic evaluation of the class I peptide repertoire. Journal of Immunology 172: 2944-2952
Luis AD, Hickman HD, Bardet W & Hildebrand WH (2003). Evaluation of MHC class I peptide-source proteins using Western blots and real-time PCR. Human Immunology 64: S23
Hickman HD, Luis AD, Bardet W, Buchli R, Battson CL, Shearer MH, Jackson KW, Kennedy RC & Hildebrand WH (2003). Cutting edge: Class I presentation of host peptides following HIV infection. Journal of Immunology 171: 22-26
Research interests
Since hantavirus was first discovered in the US in 1993, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have sponsored longitudinal studies on the rodent reservoir host (the deer mouse). These studies have demonstrated a qualitative correlation among environmental variables, population dynamics and incidence of hantavirus in deer mice, and consequent risk of infection in humans.
My research aims to (a) quantitatively describe how environmental factors affect hantavirus dynamics in its reservoir host in Montana; and (b) to create an ecological model which could predict epizootics.
Important questions include:
- What are the key drivers in the population dynamics of the deer mouse?
- Are the dynamics strongly seasonal or density dependent?
- How do environmental variables, such as precipitation and temperature, affect the population dynamics?
- Is hantavirus infection density dependent?
- What is the transmission rate and does it differ between age classes or sexes?
- How do environmental variables and seasonality affect the disease dynamics?
My research is in collaboration with Rick Douglass at Montana Tech of the University of Montana and Jim Mills at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
