A special seminar on the 10th floor of Weiser Hall.

Context Crafts Complex Systems: Proteins, Parcels, Pandemics and Prisons

In this seminar, I discuss how “contexts” and “environments” influence the way the biological world functions, and argue that sub-disciplines within biology should more carefully consider how we interpret and measure their impact. I demonstrate this through various arms of my research program, including the evolution of proteins associated with antimicrobial resistance, the shape of epidemics, and the intersection between science and culture.

C. Brandon Ogbunu is Assistant Professor in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. His research takes place at the intersection of evolutionary biology, genetics, and epidemiology. He uses experimental evolution, mathematical modeling, and computational biology to better understand the underlying causes and consequences of disease, across scales: from the biophysics of proteins involved in drug resistance to the social determinants driving epidemics at the population level. In doing so, he aims to develop theory that enriches our understanding of the evolutionary and ecological underpinnings of disease, while contributing to practical solutions for clinical medicine and public health. He completed his PhD at Yale University in 2010 and postdoctoral fellowships at Harvard University and the Broad Institute. He has been the recipient of the UNCF-Merck, the Broad Institute Diversity Fellowship and the Ford Foundation Postdoctoral Fellowship. He comes to Yale after two years on the faculty at Brown University. Brandon is also currently a visiting research scientist at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.