I am currently a graduate research assistant with Dr.Karin Dorman . My research focuses on using stochastic processes to model the evolution of fast evolving pathogens, particularly HIV, in the detection of homologous recombination.

Pathogens and hosts are perennially in an arms' race , so to speak as they, aided by evolution, try to outwit the other. The host's immune system playing police to be able to catch every viral particle in the body as early as possible and kill it. The virus playing truant and developing better , newer systems so as to be able to attack host cells while being undetecable by the host immune mechanism for as long as possible.

For retroviruses* , HIV being among them, a "nuclear bomb" in this arms race is this process called recombination where new and potentially much stronger viruses are formed as mosaics of two or more very different parents.

More about HIV and Recombination can be found here

BCB Lab