Aging and Adaptation in Infectious Diseases III/Session I: Immune System: Innate/Adaptive collaboration
January 14, 2020
9:30 am - 12:00 pm
- Description
(20 minute presentations+10 minute discussion; general discussion at the end)
Moderator: Mercedes Pascual
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Sub-items
- Presenter
- Micaela Martinez (Columbia Univ.)
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Post-meeting Reflection
Reference Material
- Presenter
- Andrea L. Graham (Princeton)
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Post-meeting Reflection
Reference Material
- Presenter
- Eric Jones (UCSB)
- Jean Carlson (UCSB)
Abstract
While participating in the Aging and Adaptation in Infectious Diseases working group, we refined our mathematical model of the immune system based on expert feedback from other participants. In particular, we discussed parameterizing our model based on existing experimental data of how human memory and naive cell populations change with age. We received several recommendations for relevant studies that we were unaware of before the meeting. Additionally, we discussed how our understanding of the immune model could be improved by a thorough bifurcation analysis, and in particular how this analysis might indicate sensitive parameters that can help quantify immune risk. We discussed how our model could be modified in future work to be applicable to influenza: in particular, influenza rapidly mutates and so considerations of cross-reactive antibodies need to be considered (which our model does not currently include). Future work could also focus on the coevolving feedbacks between our immune model and pathogen strains, and in particular how the evolutionary pressures of an adaptive immune response drive can drive the evolution of diversity of pathogens. Participants expressed interest in studying how chronic infections affect immune outcomes, focusing in particular on cytomegalovirus and its debilitating effect on a host's immune response. Lastly, we have entered into exciting new discussions with Chris Kempes and Andy Dobson regarding how immune system responses scale with host size, which might reveal how immune behaviors are conserved across species' size and age.
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Post-meeting Reflection
Reference Material
- Presenter
- Shenshen Wang (UCLA)
- Jiming Sheng (UCLA)
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