Speakers
Description
Tuberculosis (TB) and other mycobacterial infections remain major global health challenges due to their complex, multiscale interactions with the host immune system. Within-host mathematical modelling provides a principled framework for integrating experimental and clinical data and generating mechanistic insight. This Mini symposium will open with a synthesis of within-host mathematical models of TB, reviewing common modelling frameworks, biological assumptions, data sources, and key insights. This introductory contribution identifies open challenges and emerging directions and establishes a unifying conceptual foundation for the session. Building on this synthesis, subsequent talks present mechanistic models of Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) vaccination and its impact on Mycobacterium tuberculosis dynamics in mice. Further contributions focus on whole-host TB models that link immune responses, bacterial burden, and disease progression. Additionally, the session will include modelling studies of nontuberculous mycobacterial (NTM) infections, in particular, an agent-based model of NTM infection in human lungs examines spatially resolved host-pathogen dynamics and identifies mechanistic correlates of disease progression. Together, the contributions in this session integrate model synthesis, vaccination modelling, whole-host immune dynamics, and agent-based approaches to advance predictive understanding and inform future modelling and intervention strategies.
