Ben Ashby (PI)
Associate Professor
Department of Mathematics, SFU
I am a mathematical biologist interested in the ecology and (co)evolution of hosts and their parasites. I use mathematical models and simulations to study how parasites spread through populations and evolve traits such as infectivity and virulence, and in turn how this affects the evolution of host traits such as resistance or mating strategies.
Post doctoral researchers
Cameron Smith
I am a mathematical biologist who is interested in population dynamics and epidemiology, and applying stochasticity to mathematical models. My PhD centred on the development of “hybrid methods” and their implementation on reaction-diffusion systems. Currently, my work focusses on the investigation of within-host dynamics and the effects that these have on the evolution of pathogens along the mutualism-parasitism continuum, together with a small amount of work modelling some aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. Outside of maths, I attempt to play football, enjoy taking walks and singing.
Master’s students
Niloufar (Niloo) Saeidi
I am interested in computational biology, data science, and algorithms. I completed my bachelor’s degree in computer engineering and I was involved in two projects in the field of evolutionary game theory during my undergraduate studies. During my master’s degree, I will focus on the analysis of infectious diseases and genomic data. I enjoy strength training, biking, hiking, and playing the piano in my spare time.
Zahresh Walji
My research involves mathematically modelling the evolution of parasites in hosts with varying climates, mainly temperature, as well as testing those models in the lab. I completed my BSc in mathematics in 2023 and microbiology in 2019, both at the University of Victoria. During my bachelors, I did research on the spread of COVID between cities as well as applications of bioinformatics. I also love teaching and I have been a private tutor since 2011. My hobbies include exploring new restaurants and cafes, camping, performing, traveling and spending quality time with my friends.
Undergraduate students
Alumni
Parva Farsani (Undergraduate, 2024)
Alyssa Anderson (Undergraduate, 2024)
Jason Wood (PhD, 2024)
Lydia Buckingham (PhD, 2024)
Scott Renegado (Undergraduate, 2023)
Alistair Pirrie (PhD, 2023)
*Yvonne Krumbeck (PhD, 2022)
*Halimubieke Naerhulan (PhD, 2020)
Hettie Chapman (Undergraduate, 2021)
Tom Griffiths (Undergraduate, 2020)
Tim Coulter (Undergraduate, 2020)
*co-supervised
Recent collaborators
- Alex Best (Mathematics, University of Sheffield)
- Emme Bruns (Biology, University of Maryland)
- Angus Buckling (Biosciences, University of Exeter)
- Damien Farine (Research School of Biology, ANU)
- Greg Hurst (Integrative Biology, Liverpool)
- Ryosuke Iritani (iTHEMS RIKEN, Japan)
- Kayla King (Zoology, University of Oxford)
- Robin Thompson (Mathematics Institute, University of Warwick)
Honorary group members
Herbert ‘Herbie’ Puppington
I joined the pack group in August 2020. I’m still young, but I’m growing fast and will be working hard on my recall skills and house training over the next few months. I have broad research interests and am keen to investigate anything new.