EDUCATION
Ph.D. Computer Science, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM. Expected graduation date: May, 1999.
M.S. Computer Science, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, 1996.
M.D. University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Timisoara, Romania, 1992.
RESEARCH INTERESTS
Quantitative methods for studying biological processes, computational biology, dynamics of immune responses, evolution of the immune system, bacterial and viral evolution, mutational phenomena, molecular evolution.
EMPLOYMENT HISTORY
1996-present. Computer Science Department, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Research assistant.
1994-1996. Computer Science Department, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Teaching assistant for introductory programming class. Lecturer for a semester for the introductory programming class.
1994-1996. Division of Theoretical Biology and Biophysics, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM. Research associate.
1993-1994. Theoretical Immunology Program, The Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, NM. Research associate.
PUBLICATIONS
Oprea, M. , and Forrest, S. Simulated evolution of antibody libraries under pathogen selection. Proceedings of The1998 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics.
Oprea, M. and Perelson, A. S. (1997). Somatic mutation leads to efficient affinity maturation when centrocytes recycle back to centroblasts. Journal of Immunology, 158:5155-5162.
Oprea, M. and Perelson, A. S. (1996). Exploring the mechanisms of primary antibody responses to T cell-dependent antigens. Journal of Theoretical Biology 181:215-236.
Weisbuch, G. and Oprea, M. (1994). Capacity of a model immune network. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 56:899-921.
Oprea, M. and Kepler, T. - Genetic plasticity of V genes under somatic hypermutation: Statistical analyses using a new resampling-based methodology (submitted to Jounal of Immunology, February 1999).
Oprea, M. and Forrest, S. - How the immune system generates diversity: Pathogen space coverage with random and evolved antibody libraries (submitted to the Genetic and Evolutionary Computation Conference, January 1999).
Oprea, M., Van Nimwegen, E., and Perelson, A.S. - Dynamics of one-pass germinal center models: implications for affintiy maturation (submitted to Journal of Theoretical Biology, June 1998).
Kepler, T., and Oprea, M. - Improved inference of mutation rates: continuum approximation of the Luria-Delbruck distribution (in preparation).
Oprea, M., and Kepler, T. - Improved inference of mutation
rates: II. Cell-cycle corrections for the Luria-Delbruck distribution
(in preparation).
Stephanie
Forrest (PhD advisor). Computer Science Department. University of New
Mexico, Albuquerque, 87131. Phone: (505) 277-1704. Fax: (505) 277-6927.
Email: forrest@cs.unm.edu.
Thomas Kepler, Associate Professor, Department of Statistics, University of North Carolina, Raleigh, NC 27695-8203. Phone: (919) 515-1911. Fax: (919) 515-1909. Email: kepler@unity.ncsu.edu.
Alan Perelson , Group Leader & Laboratory Fellow, Mailstop K710, Los Alamos National Laboratory, Los Alamos, NM 87545. Phone: (505) 667-6829. Fax: (505)665-3493. Email: asp@t10.lanl.gov.
Ellen Goldberg, President, The Santa Fe Institute, 1399 Hyde Park Rd., Santa Fe, NM 87501. Phone: (505) 820-0045. Fax: (505) 982-0565. Email: ellen@santafe.edu.
Robert Miller, Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. Phone: (505) 277-6130. Fax: (505) 277-0304. Email: rdmiller@unm.edu.