Research Interests
My research includes the screening of influenza in avian populations in North America, Africa, and Southeast Asia. Through novel methods that include viral RNA extraction, real-time PCR, and high-resolution melt curve analysis, we are able to track where avian influenza outbreaks occur.
Education
B.S. in Biology, University of California, Los Angeles, Winter 2008
Publications
Fuller, T., S. Saatchi, E. E. Curd, E. Toffelmier, H. Thomassen, W. Buermann, D. F. DeSante, M. P. Nott, J. F. Saracco, C. J. Ralph, J. D. Alexander, J. P. Pollinger, and T. B. Smith. 2010. Mapping the risk of avian influenza in wild birds in the U.S. BMC Infectious Diseases 10: 187. doi:10.1186/1471-2334-10-187. http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2334/10/187
Njabo, K.Y., A. J. Cornel, C. Bonneaud, E. Toffelmier, R. N. M. Sehgal, G. Valkiūnas, A. F. Russell, and T. B. Smith. 2011. Non-specific patterns of vector, host and avian malaria parasite associations in a Central African rainforest. Molecular Ecology 20: 1049-1061.
Poster Presentations
“Detection of Influenza A Using High Resolution Melt real-time RT-PCR” Meeting of Ecology
and Evolution of Infectious Diseases, 2009.
“Mapping Avian Diseases in Neotropical Migrants” UCLA EEB Research Symposium, 2010.