Research

For a list of awards, symposia organized, conference talks (and more), see my CV
I am broadly interested in problems that lie at the interface of biology and mathematics. I am an expert at analyzing and integrating high-dimensional data with mathematical and machine learning models in order to understand complex biological systems. 
I am highly skilled at collaborating with diverse groups of scientists/stakeholders and have numerous experiences leading impactful research projects with clinicians, experimental biologists, and more. 
My technical areas of expertise are:
  • ability to build and understand highly technical algorithms/math models
  • ability to build and understand code to analyze complicated data (in multiple languages)
  • ability to understand complex biological systems and identify their most important components
  • ability to learn new things quickly, ability to adapt and pivot, and ability to communicate ideas/mathematics in simple terms

Current research directions include
  • cell dynamics and fate using mathematical modeling and high-dimensional sequencing data
  • disease dynamics (such as cancer and viruses)
  • evolution in complex populations

Publications and projects

  • Characterization of immune infiltration of a metastatic tumor microenvironment of murine breast cancer treated with entinostat and dual checkpoint blockade. Jesse Kreger, Yingtong Liu, Edgar Gonzalez, Aaron G. Baugh, Evanthia T. Roussos Torres, Adam L. MacLean, et al. In preparation. 2024.

  • Developmental hematopoietic stem cell variation explains clonal hematopoiesis later in life. Jesse Kreger, Jazlyn A. Mooney, Darryl Shibata, and Adam L. MacLean. Submitted. 2024. https://doi.org/10.1101/2024.03.02.583106

  • A new Neu - a syngeneic model of spontaneously metastatic HER2-positive breast cancer. Aaron G. Baugh, Edgar Gonzalez, Valerie H. Narumi, Jesse Kreger, Yingtong Liu, Christine Rafie, Sofi Castanon, Julie Jang, Luciane T. Kagohara, Dimitra P. Anastasiadou, James Leatherman, Todd D. Armstrong, Isaac Chan, George S. Karagiannis, Elizabeth M. Jaffee, Adam MacLean, and Evanthia T. Roussos Torres. Published in Clinical & Experimental Metastasis 2024. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10585-024-10289-z

  • Gastrulation-stage gene expression in Nipbl+/- mouse embryos foreshadows the development of syndromic birth defects. Stephenson Chea, Jesse Kreger, Martha E. Lopez-Burks, Adam L. Maclean, Arthur D. Lander, and Anne Calof. Published in Science Advances 2024. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.adl4239

  • Myeloid-derived suppressor cell dynamics control outcomes in the metastatic niche. Jesse Kreger, Evanthia T. Roussos Torres, and Adam L. MacLean. Published in Cancer Immunology Research 2023. https://doi.org/10.1158/2326-6066.CIR-22-0617 

  • The role of migration in mutant dynamics in fragmented populations. Jesse Kreger, Donovan Brown, Natalia L. Komarova, Dominik Wodarz, and Justin Pritchard. Published in Journal of Evolutionary Biology December 2022. http://doi.org/10.1111/jeb.14131

  • A hybrid stochastic-deterministic approach to explore multiple infection and evolution in HIV. Jesse Kreger, Natalia L. Komarova, and Dominik Wodarz. Published in PLOS Computational Biology December 2021. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pcbi.1009713

  • Quantifying the dynamics of viral recombination during free virus and cell-to-cell transmission in HIV-1 infection. Jesse Kreger, Josephine Garcia, Hongtao Zhang, Natalia L. Komarova, Dominik Wodarz, and David N. Levy. Published in Virus Evolution March 2021. https://doi.org/10.1093/ve/veab026

  • Effect of synaptic cell-to-cell transmission and recombination on the evolution of double mutants in HIV. Jesse Kreger, Natalia L. Komarova, and Dominik Wodarz. Published in Journal of the Royal Society Interface March 2020. https://doi.org/10.1098/rsif.2019.0832

Blog posts


undergraduate Research Supervised

Summer 2022: Supervisor for project on myeloid-derived suppressor cell differentiation for one undergraduate student 
Fall 2020: Mathematical Modeling of Cancer Dynamics Instructor for research course for two undergraduate students with a focus on carcinogenesis
Summer 2020: Teaching/Research Assistant for MathBioU Assistant supervisor for summer research project for two undergraduate students and one high school student on the the spread of COVID-19 over networks
Spring 2020: Mathematical Modeling of Infectious Disease Dynamics Instructor for research course for two undergraduate students with a focus on modeling the first wave of COVID-19
Summer 2019: Supervisor for project on the evolutionary dynamics of cellular metapopulations with migration for one undergraduate student 

past projects

On mathematical modeling of epidermal wound healing. Honors Thesis at Occidental College. Supervised by Ron Buckmire
Dynamics of particle-laden thin films: viscous fluid on an incline. University of California, Los Angeles Applied Math REU. Supervised by Andrea Bertozzi, Li Wang, and Jeffrey Wong. Work acknowledged in https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1361-6544/aab91d