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Petra Klepac
Study systems include
Measles
Phocine distemper virus
Selected publications
Klepac P, Neubert MG & van den Driessche P (2007) Dispersal delays and the paradox of enrichment. Theoretical Population Biology, 71: 436-444.
Rapatski B, Klepac P, Dueck S, Liu M & Weiss LI (2006) Mathematical epidemiology of HIV/AIDS in Cuba during the period 1986-2000. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering 3: 545-556
Neubert MG, Klepac P & van den Driessche P (2002) Stabilizing dispersal delays in predator-prey metapopulation models. Theoretical Population Biology 61: 339-347
UNESCO-L'Oreal Postdoctoral Fellow
Email: pklepac@psu.edu
Phone: 814-863-9545
Office: 510C Mueller Laboratory
Research interests
My research interests fall in two main categories: optimal control of infectious diseases, and dynamics of predator-prey and host-pathogen population interactions.
Optimal control of infectious diseases
Effective control and prevention measures such as vaccines exist for some infectious diseases. However, simply having a vaccine is not neccessarily sufficient to control outbreaks. For example, in developing countries, measles remains a leading cause of death of children aged under 5 despite the availability of a safe and effective vaccine that costs less than $1 per child.
I want to find optimal strategies to control the outbreaks of infectious diseases under different constraints. By combining methods in population dynamics with optimal control theory from the field of mathematical economics, I am exploring how to make control measures more effective given limiting factors such as:
- Budget
- Vaccine or drug supply
- Time
Dynamics of predator-prey and host-pathogen interactions
I am investigating:
- Dynamics of phocine distemper virus (PDV) outbreaks in harbor seals in Europe
- Maximum-likelihood methods for estimating R0 in PDV outbreaks
- Seasonal behavior of seals and the transmission of PDV
- Dispersal delays and the stability of predator-prey metapopulation models
