Project for Research Experiences for Undergraduates

2011 Summer Program, May 31 - July 22, 2011

National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS)
at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Title: Mathematical Modeling of Early Dynamics of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus

Mentors: Dr. Judy Day (Mathematics), Dr. Vitaly Ganusov (Microbiology), and Dr. Yiding Yang (Microbiology)

Human immunodeficiency virus is a poorly transmitted pathogen, as only one in 100 or 1000 sexual contacts will result in virus transmission. Early replication of the virus in CD4 T cells in the gut lamina propria is likely to be stochastic, with a high likelihood of virus extinction. Such a vulnerability of the virus during first days after infection creates a hope that vaccines or antimicrobial agents might be able to block this early virus replication. We propose to develop a series of mathematical models (based on ordinary differential equations and agent-based simulations) to investigate the early spread of a similar virus, simian immunodeficiency virus, and understand how and whether vaccines may reduce the probability of systemic spread of SIV in their hosts. Results of the modeling will be compared to experimental data on the SIV infection of macaques.

Products

Abstract of project report (PDF)

Return to REU/REV 2011.

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From 2008 until early 2021, NIMBioS was supported by the National Science Foundation through NSF Award #DBI-1300426, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.