Dr Alex Best
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
Student Voice Lead for Mathematics & Statistics
Lecturer in Mathematical and Statistical Modelling
a.best@sheffield.ac.uk
+44 114 222 3749
+44 114 222 3749
G27b, Hicks Building
Full contact details
Dr Alex Best
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
G27b
Hicks Building
Hounsfield Road
Sheffield
S3 7RH
School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences
G27b
Hicks Building
Hounsfield Road
Sheffield
S3 7RH
- Profile
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- 2016 - Current: Lecturer, SoMaS, University of Sheffield
- 2013 - 2016 : Leverhulme Early Career Research Fellow, SoMaS, University of Sheffield
- 2012 - 2012 : Associate Research Fellow, Biosciences, University of Exeter
- 2010 - 2011 : Postodctoral Research Associate, Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield
- 2006 - 2010 : PhD, Animal and Plant Sciences, University of Sheffield
- Research interests
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I am a mathematical biologist who uses theoretical models to investigate the dynamics of infectious disease systems. I use tools from dynamical systems theory to explore disease dynamics at a range of scales. My research interests include:
- models of host-parasite coevolution;
- spatial structure in epidemic/evolutionary models;
- immune processes in epidemic/evolutionary models;
- within-host models of bacteria-cell dynamics.
- Publications
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Show: Featured publications All publications
Featured publications
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All publications
Journal articles
- The impact of sterility-mortality tolerance and recovery-transmission trade-offs on host-parasite coevolution.. Proc Biol Sci, 291(2017), 20232610.
- Comparing intervention measures in a model of a disease outbreak on a university campus. Royal Society Open Science, 10(11).
- How do fluctuating ecological dynamics impact the evolution of hosts and parasites?. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 378(1873).
- Clonal population expansion of Staphylococcus aureus occurs due to escape from a finite number of intraphagocyte niches. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 1-11.
- A sterility–mortality tolerance trade-off leads to within-population variation in host tolerance. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 85(3). View this article in WRRO
- How local interactions impact the dynamics of an epidemic. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 83(12).
- How seasonal variations in birth and transmission rates impact population dynamics in a basic SIR model. Ecological Complexity, 47, 100949-100949.
- The impact of varying class sizes on epidemic spread in a university population. Royal Society Open Science, 8(6), 210712-210712.
- Evolutionarily stable strategies are well studied in periodically fluctuating populations.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(18).
- Herd immunity. Current Biology.
- A mathematical model shows macrophages delay staphylococcus aureus replication, but limitations in microbicidal capacity restrict bacterial clearance. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 497. View this article in WRRO
- The evolution of host resistance and parasite infectivity is highest in seasonal resource environments that oscillate at intermediate amplitudes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 287(1927), 20200787-20200787.
- The effect of temporal fluctuations on the evolution of host tolerance to parasitism. Theoretical Population Biology, 130, 182-190.
- The paradox of tolerance: parasite extinction due to the evolution of host defence. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 474, 78-87. View this article in WRRO
- The Impact of Selective Predation on Host–Parasite SIS Dynamics. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 81(7), 2510-2528.
- Understanding the role of eco-evolutionary feedbacks in host-parasite coevolution. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 464, 115-125. View this article in WRRO
- Host–pathogen coevolution in the presence of predators: fluctuating selection and ecological feedbacks. Proceedings of The Royal Society B Biological Sciences, 285(1885), 20180928-20180928. View this article in WRRO
- The evolution of constitutive and induced defences to infectious disease. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 285(1883), 20180658-20180658. View this article in WRRO
- The evolution of host defence to parasitism in fluctuating environments. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 440, 58-65. View this article in WRRO
- Host-parasite fluctuating selection in the absence of specificity. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London: Biological Sciences, 284(1866). View this article in WRRO
- The evolution of host defence when parasites impact reproduction. Evolutionary ecology research, 18, 393-409. View this article in WRRO
- Evolution of Host Defense against Multiple Enemy Populations. American Naturalist, 187(3), 308-319. View this article in WRRO
- Spatial heterogeneity lowers rather than increases host–parasite specialization. Journal of Evolutionary Biology, 28(9), 1682-1690. View this article in WRRO
- Parasite Exposure Drives Selective Evolution of Constitutive versus Inducible Defense. Current Biology, 25(8), 1043-1049.
- Evolution, the loss of diversity and the role of trade-offs. Mathematical Biosciences, 264, 86-93.
- The evolution of host resistance to disease in the presence of predators. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 365, 104-111.
- Higher resources decrease fluctuating selection during host-parasite coevolution. Ecology Letters, 17(11), 1380-1388. View this article in WRRO
- How specificity and epidemiology drive the coevolution of static trait diversity in hosts and parasites.. Evolution, 68(6), 1594-1606. View this article in WRRO
- The coevolutionary implications of host tolerance.. Evolution, 68(5), 1426-1435.
- A limited host immune range facilitates the creation and maintenance of diversity in parasite virulence. Interface Focus, 3(6).
- The effects of seasonal forcing on invertebrate-disease interactions with immune priming.. Bull Math Biol, 75(11), 2241-2256.
- The evolution of costly acquired immune memory.. Ecol Evol, 3(7), 2223-2232. View this article in WRRO
- The evolutionary dynamics of within-generation immune priming in invertebrate hosts.. J R Soc Interface, 10(80), 20120887.
- Seasonality selects for more acutely virulent parasites when virulence is density dependent. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 280(1751).
- The importance of who infects whom: the evolution of diversity in host resistance to infectious disease.. Ecol Lett, 15(10), 1104-1111.
- The epidemiological consequences of immune priming.. Proc Biol Sci, 279(1746), 4505-4512.
- The implications of immunopathology for parasite evolution.. Proc Biol Sci, 279(1741), 3234-3240.
- Predation on infected host promotes evolutionary branching of virulence and pathogens' biodiversity. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 307, 29-36.
- Local transmission processes and disease-driven host extinctions. Theoretical Ecology, 5(2), 211-217.
- Evolution of host resistance towards pathogen exclusion: the role of predators. EVOLUTIONARY ECOLOGY RESEARCH, 14(2), 125-146.
- Local transmission processes and disease-driven host extinctions. Theoretical Ecology, 1-7.
- Epidemiological, evolutionary, and coevolutionary implications of context-dependent parasitism. American Naturalist, 177(4), 510-521.
- Host resistance and coevolution in spatially structured populations.. Proc Biol Sci, 278(1715), 2216-2222.
- The evolution of host-parasite range.. Am Nat, 176(1), 63-71.
- Resistance is futile but tolerance can explain why parasites do not always castrate their hosts.. Evolution, 64(2), 348-357.
- The implications of coevolutionary dynamics to host-parasite interactions.. Am Nat, 173(6), 779-791.
- The role of ecological feedbacks in the evolution of host defence: what does theory tell us?. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci, 364(1513), 27-36.
- Maintenance of host variation in tolerance to pathogens and parasites.. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 105(52), 20786-20791.
- Deleterious mutations can surf to high densities on the wave front of an expanding population. MOL BIOL EVOL, 24(10), 2334-2343.
- Which species will succesfully track climate change? The influence of intraspecific competition and density dependent dispersal on range shifting dynamics. Oikos, 116(9), 1531-1539.
- Simultaneous evolution of host resistance and tolerance to parasitism. Journal of Evolutionary Biology.
Preprints
- A sterility–mortality tolerance trade-off leads to within-population variation in host tolerance, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- The impact of varying class sizes on epidemic spread in a university population, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- How local interactions impact the dynamics of an epidemic, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory.
- The impact of sterility-mortality tolerance and recovery-transmission trade-offs on host-parasite coevolution.. Proc Biol Sci, 291(2017), 20232610.
- Research group
- Teaching activities
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MAS212 Scientific Computing and Simulation MAS286 Mathematics and Statistics in Action MAS316 Mathematical modelling of natural systems MAS377 Mathematical Biology