Understanding the Protective Side of Dengue Virus

July 8, 2013, New York Times

"Infection with one strain of the dengue virus gives people protection against the other three strains for about two years, a new biostatistics study has found.
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That information should help researchers trying to develop vaccines against the mosquito-borne virus, which is nicknamed “break-bone fever” for the joint pain it causes.

Researchers improve immunization strategies for dengue fever in Thailand

Using a unique data set spanning 40 years of dengue fever incidence in Thailand, an international team led by biostatistician Nicholas Reich of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences has for the first time estimated from data that after an initial dengue infection, a person is protected from infection with other strains for between one and three years.

Deadline extended for Open Source Software Innovation competition

The Institute for Computational Biology, Biostatistics, and Bioinformatics (ICB3) has extended the deadline for letters of intent and submissions for its Open Source Software Innovation competition.

ICB3 Offers ‘Big Data’ Course for Life Sciences Industry and Academic Researchers

This short course is being offered on February 7, 2014. For more information please go to the current page for Biostatistics in Practice.

Open Source Software Innovation competition announced by ICB3

The Institute for Computational Biology, Biostatistics, and Bioinformatics (ICB3) is accepting letters of intent and submissions for its Open Source Software Innovation competition.

Reich working on $2.5m project to study dengue fever in Thailand

Biostatistician Nicholas Reich of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences, an expert in statistical modeling of infectious disease data, is part of a team that recently won a five-year, $2.5 million grant from the NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to develop and extend statistical and modeling methodologies to correct for biases in surveillance data. Specifically, he and colleagues will collaborate with Thailand’s Ministry of Health to study patterns of dengue fever there. Reich will receive about $700,000 of the total grant.

Biostatisticians identify genes linked to heart disease

Recently, large studies have identified some of the genetic basis for important common diseases such as heart disease and diabetes, but most of the genetic contribution to them remains undiscovered. Now campus researchers led by biostatistician Andrea Foulkes of the School of Public Health and Health Sciences have applied sophisticated statistical tools to existing large databases to reveal substantial new information about genes that cause such conditions as high cholesterol linked to heart disease.

Fighting heart disease with algorithms

February 12, 2013 WHYY Radio

NSF Grant Will Create Dedicated UMass Amherst Computer Network to Handle Large Volumes of Research Data

AMHERST, Mass. – Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have received a two-year, $867,040 grant from the National Science Foundation to build a high-bandwidth optical data network to handle large amounts of computerized research data. The new network is designed to separate research data traffic from the rest of the data traffic on the Amherst campus.

Computer scientists, biostatistician share in system technology grants

Faculty members from the College of Natural Sciences and the School of Public Health and Health Sciences are among the recipients of nearly $750,000 in grants from the President’s Science and Technology Initiatives Fund announced June 18 by President Robert L. Caret.

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