Principal investigator
John M. Marshall, PhD (he/him) Professor in Residence Divisions of Biostatistics & Epidemiology School of Public Health Innovative Genomics Institute Center for Computational Biology University of California, Berkeley (which sits on the territory of xučyun, the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo Ohlone people) Honorary Professor Department of Statistics University of Auckland, Aotearoa/New Zealand Mailing address: School of Public Health, 2121 Berkeley Way #5302, UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720-7360, USA Phone: +1-510-664-4724 Office: 2121 Berkeley Way #5328 Email: [email protected] Website: https://www.MarshallLab.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarshallJohnM Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=aG77NyAAAAAJ&hl=en Current CV: JohnMarshallCV.pdf |
John is a mathematical biologist with expertise in infectious disease modeling and the use of genetics-based strategies to control mosquito disease vectors. He is PI of a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant to provide modeling support for mosquito genetic control strategies for malaria elimination, and of an NIH project to develop landscape genomic methods to better quantify movement patterns of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. He works with members of the UC Malaria Initiative, and the Transmission Zero and Target Malaria consortia, in exploring the use of gene drive systems to control Anopheles gambiae, the main African malaria vector. He is also a key collaborator of the Akbari Lab at UC San Diego, which is developing a range of genetics-based tools to control Aedes and Anopheles disease vectors. His research group at the UC Berkeley School of Public Health specializes in modeling of mosquito vectors and the diseases they transmit. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, he worked at the UCLA Institute for Society and Genetics, the Malaria Research and Training Center in Mali, the Division of Biology and Biological Engineering at Caltech, and the MRC Center for Global Infectious Disease Analysis at Imperial College London.
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Prateek Verma, PhD
Prateek earned his integrated BS-MS and PhD in Physics from IISER-Kolkata, studying evolutionary game theory in social systems and microbial community coexistence. He completed postdoctoral research at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, modeling synthetic gene drive population dynamics, and led the development of DrMxR (Drive Mixer) to aid educators and regulators in understanding gene drive dynamics. He also worked on optimal control theory for ecological-economic systems as a postdoc at the University of Oldenburg. Since joining the Marshall Lab in October 2024, Prateek has focused on developing mathematical models and computational tools for the genetic control of mosquito vectors and the diseases they transmit. In his free time, he enjoys reading, coding, sketching, and meditating. Email: [email protected] |
Godrick Oketch, PhD
Godrick Oketch joined the lab in April 2025 after completing a PhD in Statistics from the University of Auckland. His doctoral research advanced saddle-point approximation techniques, building software that makes fast, accurate likelihood-based modeling accessible across ecology and other applied sciences. At UC Berkeley, he is working on statistical frameworks to plan and analyze gene drive field trials that will test next-generation mosquito control strategies for malaria. Email: [email protected] |
Shuyi Yang, MA
Shuyi Yang is a PhD student from the Biostatistics program at UC Berkeley. She graduated from UC San Diego with a BS degree in Data Science and a minor in Biology in 2018. She is currently working on the Close-kin mark-recapture (CKMR) project under the supervision of Dr. Marshall. She has research experience in mathematical modeling of infectious diseases including COVID-19 and HIV. She also has academic interests in biomedical data science, machine learning, and causal inference. During her leisure time, she enjoys hiking, rock-climbing, and snowboarding. Email: [email protected] |
Victor Mero, MSc
Victor Mero is a PhD student at UC Berkeley, with research interests in infectious disease modeling, particularly vector-borne diseases. Prior to joining UC Berkeley, Victor was a Data Scientist at Ifakara Health Institute (IHI), where he supported the National Malaria Control Program in Tanzania. He holds an MSc in Information and Communication Science from the Nelson Mandela African Institution of Science and Technology (NM-AIST). Beyond his academic pursuits, Victor enjoys fitness and spending time with family and friends. Email: [email protected] |