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Dr. Garrett M. Dancik Assistant Professor Departments of Biological Sciences and Mathematics 207 Bienvenu Hall Natchitoches, LA 71497 Ph: 318-357-4485

Bioinformatics at NSU Click here to learn more about NSU's Bioinformatics concentration!!

Teaching: Courses I Have Taught BIOL 1010: Biological Principles I BIOL 1011: Biological Principles Laboratory I BIOL 3060-3061: Biostatistics Lecture / Laboratory BIOL 3600-3601: Bioinformatics I Lecture / Laboratory BIOL 4190-4091: Immunology Lecture / Laboratory MATH 1020: College Algebra MATH 2050: Mathematics of Statistics STAT 4270: Mathematical Statistics I

Research My general research interests are the following: Bioinformatics and Computational Biology Computer modeling of the immune response Statistical methods for the analysis of computer models Calibration and Validation of computer and mathematical models I have previously developed an agent-based model of Leishmania major infection which has been used to identify parameters that facilitate host suscpetibility to L. amazonensis . I am currently using a computer modeling approach to identify under what conditions mutations in the Rev protein result (or do not result) in a fitness advantage in EIAV infection. I have also developed and maintain the R package mlegp , a Gaussian process (GP) modeling package designed primarily for the analysis of computer models. GPs are also commonly used for computer model calibration and validation. The package mlegp can fit GPs to heteroscedastic responses when the variance can be specified up to a multiplicative constant, and this is a first step in more flexible GP modeling of heteroscedastic responses.

Software mlegp: an R package for maximum likelihood estimates of Gaussian processes, with diagnostic plots and sensitivity analysis

Recent Publications Dancik, G.M., Cvek, U, 2010. Statistical analysis of computer models of biological systems. Louisiana Biomedical Research Network, Technical Report. Dancik, G.M. , Jones, D.E., Dorman, K.S., 2010. Parameter estimation and sensitivity analysis in an agent-based model of Leishmania major infection. J Theor Biol., 262(3): 398-412. Dancik, G.M., Dorman, K.S., 2008. mlegp: statistical analysis for computer models of biological systems using R. Bioinformatics, 24(17): 1966-7.