Maciej
Boni
Associate Professor of Biology
Expertise:
- Health & Medicine
- Agriculture
Focus Areas:
- Drug Resistance
- Genomics
- Global Health
- Infectious Disease
- Vector-borne Diseases
In The Media:
About
- Boni is an expert in epidemiology and global health and can comment on the modeling and projections for disease spread, including the current coronavirus outbreak.
- Since 2009, Boni's lab has run a community-based mHealth study on influenza-like illness (ILI) in Ho Chi Minh City; the study has collected over 60,000 data points and is used by the city as a real-life epidemiology tool.
- His malaria work focuses on designing and calibrating individual-based microsimulations that he uses to compare different long-term drug distribution strategies to determine which ones are most effective at delaying drug resistance.
Maciej Boni is an associate professor of biology and has a wide array of research interests including human influenza epidemiology and evolution, global health, evaluating population-level malaria treatment strategies with individual-based microsimulation models, economic epidemiology of avian influenza, and evaluating population-level efficacy of a potential dengue vaccine with mathematical models. The vast majority of Boni’s research looks at the circulation of human or “seasonal” influenza viruses in the tropics as well as the ecology and evolution of avian influenza viruses and factors that are linked with human exposure. His lab has been running an epidemiology study in southern Vietnam, aimed at reconstructing the disease dynamics of influenza virus including both symptomatic and asymptomatic influenza. Recently, Boni’s lab expanded its research scope to encompass dengue virus, Tetanus, and Hepatitis B and E among other diseases.
In The Media
Coronavirus may not be slowed down by warmer weather, scientists warn
from Los Angeles Times February 27, 2020
"While it is possible that this virus, like many other respiratory viruses, will not survive as readily in warm temperatures, it will be encountering a “completely susceptible” U.S. population, said Maciej F. Boni, an associate professor of biology at Penn State University."
Coronavirus may not be slowed down by warmer weather, scientists warn
from The Philadelphia Inquirer February 26, 2020
While it is possible that this virus, like many other respiratory viruses, will not survive as readily in warm temperatures, it will be encountering a “completely susceptible” U.S. population, said Maciej F. Boni, an associate professor of biology at Pennsylvania State University.
Is the coronavirus outbreak as bad as SARS?
from LiveScience January 30, 2020
Penn State spring break study trips canceled
from WNEP March 4, 2020
"I think that people should understand that even if most cases are mild, the level of severe infections still means that this coronavirus could affect millions and millions of Americans severely," Boni said.
Will Warm Weather Slow Down the Coronavirus? Here's What Experts Think
from Health March 3, 2020
Related Topic
Related
Topic
Coronavirus Pandemic: Infectious Disease Experts
Penn State experts are at the forefront of research on virus evolution, transmissibility and pathogenicity, as well as outbreak prediction and rapid identification of viral strains, all with a goal of informing the development of the best possible treatment and preventive measures.