Glioblastoma is the most common and deadliest primary brain tumour in adults, with a median survival of 15 months under the current standard of care [1]. Its tumour microenvironment has been shown to be highly heterogeneous [2], meaning the magnitude of cell-cell interactions differ across space due to spatial differences. Agent-based models (ABMs) are well-suited for describing this spatial...
It has been shown that infection with a mild respiratory virus prior to infection with a lethal respiratory infection can prevent mortality and morbidity, with influenza A and SARS-CoV-2 being two such viruses where this has been seen. In this study, we investigate the resulting cytokine storm arising from nonlethal single infection of SARS-CoV-2 and nonlethal coinfection of influenza A and...
Understanding the mechanisms that govern viral spread within human tissues remains a major challenge, especially for identifying and quantifying key factors that influence viral transmission and innate immune responses. Although mathematical models and experimental advances have provided valuable insights, revealing the complex spatio-temporal interactions of infection and immune processes at...
In humans, differences in immune response between males and females influence influenza infection outcomes. During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, Eshima et al., 2011 found that adult females were ~40% more likely to be hospitalized than their male age-matched counterparts. The innate immune response has been implicated as a factor of these sex differences. Together with collaborators at UW Madison,...
Objectives: Mechanistic models describe biological processes over time, but they often rely on few observed compartments and sparse longitudinal data. They may therefore be too simple to capture complex processes, such as post-vaccination immune dynamics, or may suffer from identifiability issues, especially in nonlinear mixed-effects models based on differential equations. At the same time,...
Antiretroviral therapy (ART) for HIV-1 infection is not curative. Treatment interruption typically results in viral rebound and progressive disease, necessitating lifelong ART. However, a small fraction of people living with HIV achieve long-term post-treatment control (PTC) of the virus, offering hope that strategies may be devised that obviate the need for lifelong treatment. While...
Cell populations consist of heterogeneous cells and are maintained through cell production via complex differentiation processes. To quantitatively understand these intricate dynamics, we employed mathematical modeling across two distinct biological domains: the hematopoietic system and oncogenic proliferation. Regarding the differentiation dynamics of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs), we...
Due to their long circulating half-life, high neutralization potency, and large breadth of coverage, broadly neutralizing antibodies are increasingly studied for the treatment of HIV-1 infection. Recent phase I clinical studies of antibody treatment have demonstrated robust and durable antiviral effects in viremic participants and in participants undergoing analytical treatment interruption....
The Immunobiology and Infection Subgroup focuses on modelling applied to the various aspects of immunity and immune responses, including host-pathogen interactions. Our subgroupโs aim is to unite mathematical biologists, clinicians, and wet lab researchers working on within-host infectious disease dynamics, host immune responses, causes and effects of inflammation, disease progression and...
