Probing Immune Landscapes Across Scales: Insights From the Fluscape Study
Justin Lessler
Faculty, Department of Epidemiology
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Date: Thursday, March 12, 2026
Time: 2–3 p.m. EST
In-person location: Hock #214
Virtual link: Join on Zoom
Abstract
Influenza and other directly transmitted pathogens exist on a landscape that is defined by the immune status of human hosts and the contact patterns that allow the pathogen to move between those hosts. The Fluscape study, which ran between 2009 and 2020, was an ambitious effort to understand the immune landscape of influenza in Southern China. In this talk, key results from the Fluscape study reveal the rich and dynamic nature of the landscapes on which flu transmits, and the complex changes in immunity and behavior that drive them over a lifecourse.
Speaker Biography
Justin Lessler is a faculty member in the Department of Epidemiology at UNC Chapel Hill. He specializes in researching the dynamics and control of infectious disease, with particular interest in SARS-CoV-2, influenza, cholera and dengue. Justin works on the development and application of statistics, dynamic models and novel study designs to better understand and control infectious disease.
This seminar series is organized by the Center of Multiscale Immune Systems Modeling (MISM), funded by NIAID/NIH (U54AI191253).
