Dr. Morgan Craig and Dr. Soren Gantt are looking for a PhD student to study the within-host dissemination of CMV post-infection, including latency. This work will combine detailed mathematical models of CMV dynamics and the immune response to infection (Craig lab) with mouse and human data collected in the Gantt lab.
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is the most common congenital infection worldwide, and a major cause of childhood neurodevelopmental disability. CMV infects most humans and is highly genetically variable, both within and between hosts. Horizontal CMV transmission from mothers-to-babies and babies-to mothers most commonly occurs through breast milk, saliva, urine, or genital secretions. Postnatal infection begins with productive replication in mucosal epithelial cells, principally acquired by the oral route. In the most detailed study of mother-child CMV transmission to date, Dr. Gantt followed 32 mother-newborn pairs in Uganda for 1 year. During this period, saliva samples were collected on a weekly basis. His team found that most infants had brief episodes of low-level oral CMV replication that did not result in viremia or seroconversion, and >80% of all oral CMV detection was transient. In a similar follow-up study in Kenya with more comprehensive sampling, Dr. Gantt and his team validated these observations and found that viral shedding in saliva sometimes occurred after shedding in urine and/or blood, raising questions about how CMV is disseminated after acquisition.
Using mathematical modelling, Dr. Craig and her team have distinguished biomarkers of COVID-19 severity during primary infection by SARS-CoV-2, studied new extended-release antiretroviral drug delivery systems to treat HIV, integrated comprehensive immunological models to generate virtual patient cohorts to understand immunological dysregulation in at-risk patient groups, and described how immunodeficiencies affect the speed of viral evolution. Together, Drs. Gantt and Craig have studied how CMV vaccination could alter congenital CMV dynamics after its introduction to populations of varying seropositivity and collaborate on several projects to understand within-host CMV dynamics.
In particular, we are seeking candidates who have completed or are about to complete their MSc in Mathematics or Applied Mathematics with expertise in:
Experience in viral dynamics and/or immune responses are pluses. The selected candidate will have to apply for admission to the Université de Montréal, to the PhD program in Applied Mathematics of the Department of Mathematics and Statistics. Anticipated start date of September 2026. Interested candidates are encouraged to contact Dr. Morgan Craig (morgan.craig@umontreal.ca) with the most recent copy of their transcripts and a CV by December 1, 2026.
