Natalia Komarova

About

Natalia Komarova holds an MS in Theoretical Physics from Moscow State University and a PhD in Applied Mathematics from the University of Arizona. She has held positions including a Member at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton from 1999 to 2003, Assistant Professor at the Department of Mathematics at Rutgers, and worked at UC Irvine from 2004 until 2024, when she joined UCSD. Her research interests are centered on Applied Mathematics, with particular focus on Mathematical Biology, evolution, and the modeling of complex social phenomena. She has been recognized with several honors, including being named an AAAS Fellow in 2024, serving as a UCI Chancellor’s Professor from 2017 to 2023, and receiving awards such as the UCI Senate Distinguished Mid-Career Faculty Award for Research and the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Statistics
• Law
• Geography
• Mathematics
• Econometrics
• Economics
• Biology
• Demography

Selected publications

• Surface remodeling and inversion of cell-matrix interactions underlie community recognition and dispersal in Vibrio cholerae biofilms

  Nature Communications · 2025-01-02 · 15 citations

  articleOpen access

  Biofilms are ubiquitous surface-associated bacterial communities embedded in an extracellular matrix. It is commonly assumed that biofilm cells are glued together by the matrix; however, how the specific biochemistry of matrix components affects the cell-matrix interactions and how these interactions vary during biofilm growth remain unclear. Here, we investigate cell-matrix interactions in Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of cholera. We combine genetics, microscopy, simulations, and biochem…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Barcoded HIV-1 reveals viral persistence driven by clonal proliferation and distinct epigenetic patterns

  Nature Communications · 2025-02-14 · 5 citations

  articleOpen access

  The HIV reservoir consists of infected cells in which the HIV-1 genome persists as provirus despite effective antiretroviral therapy (ART). Studies exploring HIV cure therapies often measure intact proviral DNA levels, time to rebound after ART interruption, or ex vivo stimulation assays of latently infected cells. This study utilizes barcoded HIV to analyze the reservoir in humanized mice. Using bulk PCR and deep sequencing methodologies, we retrieve 890 viral RNA barcodes and 504 proviral barc…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Two modes in the absolute velocity statistics in cautious walks of laboratory rodents

  Biophysical Journal · 2025-07-15 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Pros and cons of group averaging in studies of stochastic rodent locomotion

  Chaos Solitons & Fractals · 2025-10-15 · 2 citations

  article
  PublisherDOI

• An optimal network that promotes the spread of an advantageous variant in an SIR epidemic

  Journal of Theoretical Biology · 2025-03-17 · 2 citations

  articleSenior authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Recent grants

• Mutant evolution in spatially structured, hierarchical populations

  NSF · $255k · 2022–2024

• NIH Grant R01CA129286

  NIH · $1.5M · 2014

• Collaborative Research: Infection Multiplicity and Virus Evolution, from Experiments to Large Scale Multi-Population Stochastic Computations

  NSF · $406k · 2017–2021

Frequent coauthors

• Dominik Wodarz

  University of California, San Diego

  202 shared

• Martin A. Nowak

  Harvard University

  78 shared

• Anirvan M. Sengupta

  51 shared

• Bert Vogelstein

  Howard Hughes Medical Institute

  50 shared

• Christoph Lengauer

  Blueprint Medicines (United States)

  50 shared

• Ie‐Ming Shih

  49 shared

• Prasad V. Jallepalli

  Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center

  49 shared

• Ignacio A. Rodriguez-Brenes

  30 shared

Education

• Ph.D., Mathematics

  University of California, San Diego

  2000

• M.S., Mathematics

  University of California, San Diego

  1996

• B.S., Mathematics

  University of California, San Diego

  1994

Awards & honors

• AAAS Fellow (2024)
• UCI Chancellor’s Professor (2017-2023)
• UCI Senate Distinguished Mid-Career Faculty Award for Resear…
• UCI Senate Distinguished Assistant Professor Award for Resea…
• Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship (2005-07)

Similar researchers at University of California, San Diego

• David Meyerh-45
• Dimitris Politish-45
• Michael Holsth-40