Epidemiological modelling of SARS-CoV-2

Description

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic has entered a new context in Europe. With the high coverage of vaccination, which enhances the protection of the most vulnerable population, and the irruption of the Omicron variant, more transmissible and less severe, public health authorities are shifting from a case-to-case search and diagnosis to a sentinel system. Therefore, models will require a thorough adaptation to the new surveillance system. We propose the development of an open modelling platform to perform scenario analyses of cases, primary care visits, hospitalizations and ICU along a 1-3-month period, as well as short-term predictions along 1-3 weeks, based on information provided by the new surveillance system and other relevant data. We also intend to integrate the sequencing data and perform a severity analysis with hospital partners any time that new variants of concern appear, with the aim of obtaining reliable information for the mid-term scenarios. The platform will be developed with data from Catalonia, however, with the purpose of building a tool that can be used by other regions and countries.

This 2-year interdisciplinary and multicentric project, funded by the BBVA foundation, will be carried out by a research team that includes investigators from the Computational Biology and Complex Systems (BIOCOM-SC) research group at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya, the university hospitals Vall d’Hebron, Bellvitge and Germans Trias i Pujol, the Catalan Public Health Agency and information systems from the Catalan Health Institute.

Postdoc job offer

We are looking for a qualified postdoc who will join the BIOCOM-SC team at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. The candidate should incorporate to the team on September 2022, with a standard postdoc salary. The project finishes on 30^th June 2024.

The candidate will participate on the data analysis and building of models, and will be responsible of the implementation process of the models, documentation of the codes, scheduling and execution of the simulations, implementation of the open modelling platform, and writing of the resulting reports and scientific papers. He/she will also participate on the monitoring of the new surveillance system, analysis and discussion of the results, among others.

Candidates profile

Candidates are expected to have provable expertise and skills on:

• Computational modelling of infectious diseases

• Mathematical epidemiology

• Data analysis

• Advanced programming in Matlab and/or Python and/or R

• Writing and communicating

• Teamwork

PI: Clara Prats, PhD (Computational Biology and Complex Systems, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya).

Centre: Barcelona School of Agri-food and Biosystems Engineering, Baix Llobregat Campus, Mediterranean Technology Park, Castelldefels (Barcelona, Spain).

Expression of interest: Candidates should send an updated CV and a motivation letter to the PI before 15th July (Clara Prats, clara.prats@upc.edu)