Joshua S. Weitz Research Group

University of Maryland, College Park

How do viruses reshape population and ecosystem outcomes across marine and human-associated systems? The group develops theories and computational models of how viral infections modulate the fates of individuals, populations, and communities to understand ecosystem-scale function. Researchers build and analyze mechanistic and data-driven mathematical models to study viral ecology, bacteriophage therapy, and infectious disease dynamics across scales. Methods include computational simulation, statistical integration of field and lab datasets, and collaborations that link models to marine sampling and clinical or experimental data. The team applies quantitative approaches to predict phage–bacteria coexistence, marine viral impacts, and mechanisms driving infection variability.