Home | Infectious Disease Modelling Group

Welcome!

We are an infectious disease modelling group at FHI, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health. We develop and apply statistical and mathematical methods and tools for a variety of infectious diseases. Since 2020 we have primarily focused on Covid-19 and continue to perform extensive modelling for the Institute’s and Norwegian government’s response to the pandemic. For a more detailed description of our Covid-related work, please check out our Projects page.

Our work also extends to influenza and related respiratory infections, Hepatitis C, Varicella, multi-drug resistant pathogens, etc. (see Publications).

We are a research-focused group consisting mostly of researchers and PhD students. We welcome collaborations – please get in touch by email through our People page! If you are interested in doing a Master’s project with us, please also do get in touch.

Selected publications

Chan LY, Rø G, Midtbø JE, Di Ruscio F, Watle SS, Juvet LK, Littmann J, Aavitsland P, Nygard KM, Berg AS, Bukholm G, Kristoffersen AB, Engø-Monsen K, Engebretsen S, Swanson D, Diz-Lois Palomares A, Lindstrøm JC, Frigessi A, de Blasio BF. Modeling geographic vaccination strategies for COVID-19 in Norway. PLOS Computational Biology. 20(1): e1011426.

Engebretsen S, Diz-Lois Palomares A, Rø G, Kristoffersen AB, Lindstrøm JC, Engø-Monsen K, Kamineni M, Chan YH, Dale Ø, Midtbø JE, Stenerud KL, Di Ruscio F, White R, Frigessi A, de Blasio BF. A real-time regional model for COVID-19: Probabilistic situational awareness and forecasting. PLOS Computational Biology. 2023 Jan 23;19(1):e1010860

Storvik G, Diz-Lois Palomares A, Engebretsen S, Rø GØ, Engø-Monsen K, Kristoffersen AB, de Blasio BF, Frigessi A. A sequential Monte Carlo approach to estimate a time-varying reproduction number in infectious disease models: the Covid-19 case. Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A: Statistics in Society. 2023 Oct;186(4):616-32.

Lindstrom JC, Engebretsen S, Kristoffersen AB, Rø GOI, Palomares ADL, Engo-Monsen K, […], de Blasio, B. F. Increased transmissibility of the alpha SARS-CoV-2 variant: evidence from contact tracing data in Oslo, January to February 2021. Infectious Diseases. 2022;54(1):72-7.

Di Ruscio F, Guzzetta G, Bjornholt JV, Leegaard TM, Moen AEF, Merler S, de Blasio BF. Quantifying the transmission dynamics of MRSA in the community and healthcare settings in a low-prevalence country. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2019;116(29):14599-605.