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Research Group of Catherine Beauchemin

Photo of Catherine Beauchemin

Catherine Beauchemin
Professor
cbeau@torontomu.ca
Office: KHE 329G

Research in our group focuses primarily on virophysics: the application of physics approaches (math & computer modelling, data analysis) to fully characterize and predict the course of virus infections (flu, RSV, ebola, bunya, etc.) in cell cultures or within a host. Beyond viruses, we apply our techniques and expertise to other fun or intriguing data that come our way, including cancer (external link)  and amyloid-related neurodegenerative diseases (external link)  such as Parkinson's or Alzheimer's. While our work is analytical and computational, we work closely with our experimental collaborators (Canada, Japan, USA, UK) to identify sources of noise in experimental measurements and improve experimental accuracy, interpretability and reproducibility. For example, we developed a webtool (external link)  to estimate the concentration of infectious virions (virus particles) in patient samples. We’re now adapting this tool to estimate the concentration of aggregating seeds in samples of patients with amyloid-related pathologies.

Our work involves primarily computer programming (mostly python), numerical methods (MCMC), some math (primarily ODEs), Bayesian statistics, reading and learning about intricate details of experimental biological systems and procedures, a big dose of curiosity and a passion for puzzle solving: trying to figure out what mechanisms can explain the sometimes strange patterns seen in the experimental data.

Research Group Website.

Recent Publications from Group

Google Scholar for Catherine Beauchemin (external link) 

  • Srivastava, A, Q Wang, CD Orrù, M Fernandez, Y Compta, B Ghetti, G Zanusso, WQ Zou, B Caughey, and CAA Beauchemin. Enhanced quantitation of pathological ɑ-synuclein in patient biospecimens by RT-QuIC seed amplification assays. PLOS Pathog., 20(9):e1012554, 20 September 2024 Journal link. (external link) 
  • Porthiyas, J, D Nussey, CAA Beauchemin, DC Warren, C Quirouette, and KP Wilkie. Practical parameter identifiability and handling of censored data with Bayesian inference in mathematical tumour models. NPJ Syst. Biol. Appl., 10:89, 14 August 2024. Journal link. (external link) 
  • Fung, KYY, TWW Ho, Z Xu, D Neculai, CAA Beauchemin, WL Lee, GD Fairn. Apolipoprotein A1 and high-density lipoprotein limit low-density lipoprotein transcytosis by binding SR-B1. J. Lipid Res., 65(4):100530, April 2024. Journal link. (external link) 
  • Kieran, TJ, X Sun, TR Maines, CAA Beauchemin, JA Belser. Exploring associations between viral titer measurements and disease outcomes in ferrets inoculated with 125 contemporary influenza A viruses. J. Virol., 98(2):e0166123, 20 February 2024. Journal link. (external link) 
  • Quirouette, C, D Cresta, J Li, KP Wilkie, H Liang, CAA Beauchemin. The effect of random virus failure following cell entry on infection outcome and the success of antiviral therapy. Sci Rep., 13:17243, October 2023. Journal link. (external link) 
  • Creager, H, TJ Kieran, H Zeng, X Sun, JA Pulit-Penaloza, KE Holmes, AF Johnson, TM Tumpey, TR Maines, CAA Beauchemin, JA Belser. Utility of human in vitro data in risk assessments of influenza A virus using the ferret model. J. Virol., 97(1):e0153622, January 2023. Journal link. (external link) 
  • Cresta, D, DC Warren, C Quirouette, AP Smith, LC Lane, AM Smith, CAA Beauchemin. Time to revisit the endpoint dilution assay and to replace the TCID50 as a measure of a virus sample's infection concentration. PLOS Comput. Biol., 17(10):e1009480, October, 2021. Journal link. (external link) 
  • Warren, DC, CAA Beauchemin, MV Barkov, S Nagataki. The maximum energy of shock-accelerated electrons in a microturbulent magnetic field. ApJ, 906(1):33, January 1, 2021. Journal link. (external link) 
  • Liao, LE, J Carruthers, SJ Smither, CL4 Virology Team, SA Weller, D Williamson, TR Laws, I García-Dorival, J Hiscox, BP Holder, CAA Beauchemin, AS Perelson, M López-García, G Lythe, J Barr, C Molina-París. Quantification of Ebola virus replication kinetics in vitro. PLOS Comput. Biol., 16(11):e1008375, November, 2020. Journal link. (external link) 
  • Yan, AWC, J Zhou, CAA Beauchemin, CA Russell, WS Barclay, S Riley. Quantifying mechanistic traits of influenza viral dynamics using in vitro data. Epidemics, 33:100406, December, 2020. Journal link. (external link) 
  • Quirouette, C, NP Younis, MB Reddy, CAA Beauchemin. A mathematical model describing the localization and spread of influenza A virus infection within the human respiratory tract. PLOS Comput. Biol., 16(4):e1007705, April 13, 2020.  Journal link. (external link)