Brandi Klingerman | October 27, 2018
Two postdoctoral scholars from the University of Notre Dame have received Postdoctoral Training Awards in Translational Research from the Indiana Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute (CTSI). The fellowship is designed to provide an “opportunity to be mentored in research-intensive multidisciplinary settings toward the goal of developing careers in translational research.”
Recipients of the Indiana CTSI fellowship are Guido Camargo España, postdoctoral research associate of biological sciences, and Jesus Alonso, postdoctoral research associate of chemistry and biochemistry. Camargo España received his fellowship for work with Alex Perkins, Eck Family Assistant Professor of Biological Sciences at Notre Dame and affiliated member of the Eck Institute for Global Health, and Timothy Endy, professor at State University of New York. For the project, he will conduct simulation modeling to estimate dengue vaccine profiles from trial results.
Currently, there is a dengue vaccine that has shown efficacy in treating patients who have already been infected with the dengue virus. However, the same vaccine, when given to those who have never contracted the dengue virus, can have harsher effects if those people eventually contract the virus.
“There are certain unobservable variables affecting dengue vaccine trials,” said Camargo España. “Therefore, our goal with this research is to simulate these trials using agent-based computational models to better understand what those variables are and how they impact our estimates of the effect of the vaccine.”
Alonso, postdoctoral research associate of chemistry and biochemistry, received his fellowship to work with Brian Baker, Rev. John A. Zahm Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry at Notre Dame and affiliated member of the Harper Cancer Research Institute, and Michael Nishimura, surgical research professor at Loyola University Medical Center and program director of immunologic therapeutics.
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Originally published by at dailydomer.nd.edu on October 27, 2018.