David Brown
Associate Professor
Mathematics & Computer Science
I'm a mathematical biologist. That is, I use mathematical models to investigate biological phenomena. My research is in population biology and ecology, with a recent foray into bacterial genetics. In my dissertation work, I studied stochastic (i.e. incorporating chance) models of the spatial spread of plant diseases. As a postdoc, I studied unusual predator-prey dynamics in soil communities. Recently, I have collaborated with Dr. Phoebe Lostroh in CC's biology department to understand bacterial gene regulation, and with Dr. Miro Kummel in CC's environmental science program and Dr. Andrea Bruder in CC's math/CS department to understand complex spatio-temproal dynamics of an insect predator-prey system.
"Resistance may be futile: dispersal scales and selection for disease resistance in competing plants"(pdf), by David Brown and Alan Hastings. Appeared in Journal of Theoretical Biology 222:373--388.
"Modeling direct positive feedback between predators and prey"(pdf),
by David Brown, Howard Ferris, Shenglei Fu, and Richard Plant.
Appeared in Theoretical Population Biology 65:143-152.
"The effects of disease dispersal and host clustering on the epidemic threshold in plants" (pdf), by David Brown and Benjamin Bolker. Appeared in Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 66:341-371.
"Inferring gene expression dynamics from reporter protein levels"(Word document), by David Brown and Phoebe Lostroh. To appear in The Biotechnology Journal.
In Brown and Lostroh (submitted), we present models for inferring gene activity dynamics from reporter protein time series data. The method is implemented in the following Excel spreadsheets. The first one is general, valid for any system in which the reporter protein is detectable immediately upon synthesis. The second one is specific for GFP, incoporating a transitional period before the protein is fluorescent. For details on the models and assumptions, please see the paper. Each spreadsheet contains brief instructions in comment boxes. Please feel free to download and use these spreadsheets, citing the paper by Brown and Lostroh (submitted).
