Newcastle University

Research Interests

The development and application of modelling techniques in biology and medical systems. I am interested in both strategic modelling approaches – where the objective is to use modelling to investigate general biological principles - and tactical modelling - where the objective is to use modelling to solve specific applied problems.  

For research activity in my group please go to:  http://research.ncl.ac.uk/bces-modelling/

Projects

• Air pollution and respiratory infections in the 1000 families cohort
  Project Leader(s): Dr Susan Hodgson

Module leader:

BIO3196 Research Project

BIO3003 Ecological Modelling 

• Vale L, Adamson A, Critchley J, Rushton S, Kelly S, Shen J, Shirley M, Mason H, Donaldson C, Armstrong N. Economic evaluation: evaluating the short-term impacts of the school food policy and experimental modelling of longer term impacts. London: Newcastle University and the University of Stirling as part of the Public Health Research Consortium, 2011. B5-07A.
• Thomas MF, Blain AP, Shirley MDF, Simmister C, Elemraid MA, Gorton R, Pearce MS, Clark JE, Rushton SP, Spencer DA. Geographical variation in the risk of childhood pneumonia and relationships to socio-economic and health deprivation. In: European Respiratory Society Annual Congress. 2011, Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
• McNally R, Gomez-Pozo B, Blakey K, James P, Pearce M, Craft A, Rushton S. Socioeconomic diversity and the incidence of childhood leukaemia in Northern England. In: Pediatric Blood & Cancer: 43rd Congress of the International Society of Paediatric Oncology (SIOP). 2011, Auckland, New Zealand: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
• Blain AP, Firbank LG, Smart S, Rushton S. Modelling vegetation change in the British countryside. In: 7th IALE World Congress. 2007, Wageningen, The Netherlands: IALE.
• Herborg L-M, Bentley MG, Clare AS, Rushton SP. The spread of the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheir sinensis) in Europe; the predictive value of an historical data set. Hydrobiologia 2003, 503(1-3), 21-28.
• Macdonald DW, Tattersall FH, Johnson PJ, Carbone C, Reynolds JC, Langbein J, Rushton SP, Shirley MDF. Management and control of populations of foxes, deer, hares and mink in England and Wales, and the impact of hunting with dogs. London: Committee of Inquiry into Hunting with Dogs, Her Majesty's Government, 2000.
• Sharma A, Barron J, LeCouteur J, Grunze H, Kelly T, Ferrier I, Close A, Rushton S, Lecouteur A. Neurocognitive function in children of adults with bipolar disorder: a UK study. Bipolar Disorders 2011, 13(88), 186.
• Jorgensen F, Ellis-Iversen FJ, Rushton S, Bull S, Harris SA, Bryan SJ, Gonzalez A, Humphrey TJ. Influence of Season and Geography on Campylobacter jejuni and C. coli Subtypes in Housed Broiler Flocks Reared in Great Britain. Applied and Environmental Microbiology 2011, 77(11), 3741-3748.
• Mill AC, Rushton SP, Murrary AWA, Rose M. PAH contamination in Shellfish: Modelling to estimate exposure. Ecotoxicology 2011. In Press.
• Dadvand P, Rankin J, Rushton S, Pless-Mulloli T. Ambient air pollution and congenital heart disease: A register-based study. Environmental Research 2011, 111(3), 435-441.
• Chambers MA, Rogers F, Delahay RJ, Lesellier S, Ashford R, Dalley D, Gowtage S, Dave D, Palmer S, Brewer J, Crawshaw T, Clifton-Hadley R, Carter S, Cheeseman C, Hanks C, Murray A, Palphramand K, Pietravalle S, Smith GC, Tomlinson A, Walker NJ, Wilson GJ, Corner LAL, Rushton SP, Shirley MDF, Gettinby G, McDonald RA, Hewinson RG. Bacillus Calmette-Guerin vaccination reduces the severity and progression of tuberculosis in badgers. Proceedings of the Royal Society of London B: Biological Sciences 2011, 278(1713), 1913-1920.
• Mill AC, Rushton SP, Shirley MDF, Murray AWA, Smith GC, Delahay RJ, McDonald RA. Farm-scale risk factors for bovine tuberculosis incidence in cattle herds during the Randomised Badger Culling Trial. Epidemiology and Infection 2012, 140(2), 219-230.
• Rushton SP, Shirley MDF, Sheridan EA, Lanyon CV, O'Donnell AG. The transmission of nosocomial pathogens in an intensive care unit: a space-time clustering and structural equation modelling approach. Epidemiology and Infection 2010, 138(6), 915-926.
• Pearce MS, Glinianaia SV, Rankin J, Rushton S, Charlton M, Parker L, Pless-Mulloli T. No association between ambient particulate matter exposure during pregnancy and stillbirth risk in the north of England, 1962-1992. Environmental Research 2010, 110(1), 118-122.
• Bruemmer CM, Rushton SP, Gurnell J, Lurz PWW, Nettleton P, Sainsbury AW, Duff JP, Gilray J, McInnes CJ. Epidemiology of squirrelpox virus in grey squirrels in the UK. Epidemiology and Infection 2010, 138(7), 941-950.
• Jenkins SN, Rushton SP, Lanyon CV, Whiteley AS, Waite IS, Brookes PC, Kemmitt S, Evershed RP, O'Donnell AG. Taxon-specific responses of soil bacteria to the addition of low level C inputs. Soil Biology & Biochemistry 2010, 42(9), 1624-1631.
• Elmhagen B, Ludwig G, Rushton SP, Helle P, Linden H. Top predators, mesopredators and their prey: interference ecosystems along bioclimatic productivity gradients. Journal of Animal Ecology 2010, 79(4), 785-794.
• Dadvand P, Ruston S, Diggle PJ, Goffe L, Rankin J, Pless-Mulloli T. Using spatio-temporal modelling to predict long-term exposure to black smoke at fine spatial and temporal scale. Atmospheric Environment 2010, 45(3), 659-664.
• Rushton SP, Humphrey TJ, Shirley MDF, Bull S, Jorgensen F. Campylobacter in housed broiler chickens: a longitudinal study of risk factors. Epidemiology and Infection 2009, 137(8), 1099-1110.
• Atherton KM, Williams FM, Gonzalez FJE, Glass R, Rushton S, Blain PG, Mutch E. DNA damage in horticultural farmers: a pilot study showing an association with organophosphate pesticide exposure. Biomarkers 2009, 14(7), 443-451.
• Dadvand P, Rankin J, Shirley MDF, Rushton SP, Pless-Mulloli T. Descriptive epidemiology of congenital heart disease in Northern England. Paediatric and Perinatal Epidemiology 2009, 23(1), 58-65.
• MacNeil MA, Graham NAJ, Polunin NVC, Kulbicki M, Galzin R, Harmelin-Vivien M, Rushton SP. Hierarchical drivers of reef-fish metacommunity structure. Ecology 2009, 90(1), 252-264.
• Wilkinson D, Bennett R, McFarlane I, Rushton S, Shirley M, Smith G. Cost-benefit analysis model of badger (Meles meles) culling to reduce herd tuberculosis breakdowns in Britain, with particular reference to badger perturbation. Journal of Wildlife Diseases 2009, 45(4), 1062–1088.
• Fanshawe TR, Diggle PJ, Rushton SP, Sanderson RA, Lurz PWW, Glinianaia SV, Pearce MS, Parker L, Charlton M, Pless-Mulloli T. Modelling spatio-temporal variation in exposure to particulate matter: a two-stage approach. Environmetrics 2008, 19(6), 549-566.
• McNally RJQ, Rankin J, Shirley MDF, Rushton SP, Pless-Mulloli T. Space-time analysis of Down syndrome: Results consistent with transient pre-disposing contagious agent. International Journal of Epidemiology 2008, 37(5), 1169-1179.
• Bertolino S, Lurz P, Sanderson RA, Rushton SP. Predicting the spread of the American grey squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis) in Europe: A call for a co-ordinated European approach. Biological Conservation 2008, 141(10), 2564-2575.
• Wilson SK, Fisher R, Pratchett MS, Graham NAJ, Dulvy NK, Turner RA, Cakacaka A, Polunin NVC, Rushton SP. Exploitation and habitat degradation as agents of change within coral reef fish communities. Global Change Biology 2008, 14(12), 2796-2809.
• Lanyon CV, Rushton SP, O'Donnell AG, Goodfellow M, Ward AC, Petrie M, Jensen SP, Gosling LM, Penn DJ. Murine scent mark microbial communities are genetically determined. FEMS Microbiology Ecology 2007, 59(3), 576-583.
• Rushton SP, Goodfellow M, O'Donnell AG, Magee JG. The epidemiology of atypical mycobacterial diseases in northern England: A space-time clustering and Generalized Linear Modelling approach. Epidemiology and Infection 2007, 135(5), 765-774.
• Elmhagen B, Rushton SP. Trophic control of mesopredators in terrestrial ecosystems: Top-down or bottom-up?. Ecology Letters 2007, 10(3), 197-206.
• O'Donnell AG, Young IM, Rushton SP, Shirley MD, Crawford JW. Visualization, modelling and prediction in soil microbiology. Nature Reviews Microbiology 2007. , 5(9), 689-699.
• Mathews F, Lovett L, Rushton S, Macdonald DW. Bovine tuberculosis in cattle: Reduced risk on wildlife-friendly farms. Biology Letters 2006, 2(2), 271-274.
• Rushton SP, Lurz PWW, Gurnell J, Nettleton P, Bruemmer CM, Shirley MDF, Sainsbury A. Disease threats posed by alien species: The role of a poxvirus in the decline of the native red squirrel in Britain. Epidemiology and Infection 2006, 134(3), 521-533.
• Shirley MDF, Rushton SP. The impacts of network topology on disease spread. Ecological Complexity 2005, 2(3), 287-299.
• Shirley MDF, Rushton SP. Where diseases and networks collide, Lessons form the Foot and Mouth Disease in UK 2001. Epidemiology and Infection 2005,133 6 1023-1032.