UNT Research, Volume 19, 2010 Page: 41
46 p. : col. ill. ; 28 cm.View a full description of this periodical.
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Sam Atkinson provides the environmental
expertise needed to model disease
outbreaks. He says data on population,
land cover, new roads, air quality or even
a person's number of trips to the grocery
store may come into rlavwhen Mikler, in comvputcr science and
engineering, first wondered if there was a
way to use computational techniques to
help address public health problems. He
brought in Oppong, who specializes in
medical geography.
Medical geography, Oppongi, saels. i
the realization that where you live affects
your health and the Jdiseases. to which You
are most vulnerable.
Oppong would provide geographic
data, and Mikler would create the software
to simulate an outbreak. Before long, the
professors realized they were missing a cru-
cial angle: dynamic environmental factors.
Sam Atkinson, biology professor anm
director of UNT's Institute of Applied
Sciences, joined the partnership to provide
the environmental expertise.
Developing a feasible vaccination
strategy works only if scientists have the
most up-to-date information on popula-
tion, new roads, shopping centers and
subdivisions, Atkinson says. For example,
some diseases are highly dependent on land
cover. Malaria is spread by mosquitoes,
while avian flu migrates with bird behavior.
Once the disease enters the human
population, other environmental factors
come into play, Atkinson says. In the case
of the flu, the environmental factors are
endless: How many people do you work
with or live with? What is the quality of air
where you live? How often do you go to
the grocery store?
"Human interaction is a huge factor
in determining how a disease spreads,"
Atkinson says. "We have to take all these
factors into account in order to model"Human interaction is a huge factor in
determining how a disease spreads."SAM ATKINSON
disease outbreaks adequately enough to
allow public health planners to begin
understanding how various responses alter
the patterns of an epidemic."
The three researchers formed the
Computational Epidemiology Research
Laboratory and began recruiting additional
faculty at UNT and at the Health Science
Center. The laboratory eventually turned
into the center, and the team has begun
attracting external funding to support its
research, including funds from the U.S.
Department of Health and Human Services
to purchase equipment.Researchers will focus on infectious
diseases for now, but they could expand the
center's mission to include chronic diseases,
such as diabetes and cancer.
"We see endless possibilities with
computational modeling," Mikler says.
"This research could dramatically enhance
and improve our knowledge of how, why
and where diseases spread." 1UNT RESEARCH 20.10
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University of North Texas. UNT Research, Volume 19, 2010, periodical, 2010; Denton, Texas. (https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc115033/m1/41/: accessed April 24, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, UNT Digital Library, https://digital.library.unt.edu; crediting University Relations, Communications & Marketing department for UNT.