Difference between revisions of "Aging and Adaptation in Infectious Diseases"
From Complex Time
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|Start date/time=July 26, 2018 | |Start date/time=July 26, 2018 | ||
|End date/time=July 28, 2018 | |End date/time=July 28, 2018 | ||
| − | |Description=This meeting will be | + | |Description=== MEETING SUMMARY == |
| + | This working group explores the role of aging and adaptation in infectious diseases operating over multiple organizational and temporal scales. General areas include immune system dynamics and age, host-pathogen co-adaptation in chronic vs. acute infections, pathogen antigenic diversity and endemism, effects of age on infectious diseases in human and nonhuman hosts. Overarching themes include memory, (co)adaptation, diversity, feedback, robustness and fragility. We are interested in aging and biological time as reflecting a loss of robustness in the face of infection at the level of individuals but also populations. We are also interested in aging of the pathogen in relation to its ability to persist and withstand intervention efforts. This meeting brings together a select group of scientists from a range of backgrounds to define novel questions, facilitate potential collaborations, and catalyze new and transformative research in this area. Development of methods that combine big data, experiments, theory, and computation with predictive and therapeutic applications across disciplines is of particular interest. | ||
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| + | == OVERVIEW AND RATIONALE == | ||
| + | Time and age in standard dynamical systems for infectious diseases are treated as simple clocks that run at a constant rate. Thus, standard epidemiological models that incorporate host age consider structured populations and rely on partial differential equations in which the derivative of age relative to time is simply a constant. By contrast, ‘complex’ time in infectious disease dynamics is intimately related to the different trajectories that either individuals or populations can follow and which ultimately determine the outcome of infection, its susceptibility to intervention, and the likelihood of critical failure. Pieces of what determines these trajectories have been investigated, in relation to the immune system, pathogens’ evolution and their escape from the host’s acquired memory, as well as the coadaptation of both. A synthesis of these efforts and a general theory that places aging at its center is still missing. | ||
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| + | We have been purposefully vague so far on whose age we are considering. Age of the host is only one possibility. There is also the age of first infection and that of pathogen lineages and their persistence through time. Another age is that of infection in a population, from the short duration of epidemics to the long-lasting persistence of endemic diseases. All these quantities are inter-related, in some cases in ways we already understand. What is missing is a deeper understanding and synthesis of the variable outcomes and temporal trajectories of disease at different levels of organization. Some individuals may experience fatal failure to recover from disease, others may tolerate infection and exhibit a robust path to recovery. In endemic locations, under high transmission, a large reservoir of asymptomatic infection can lead to persistence of the pathogen and its resilience to intervention. The same disease under low transmission will be epidemic and possibly easier to eliminate. | ||
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| + | At the center of these outcomes are both the acquisition of information by the immune system and the antigenic escape of pathogens. Thus, information, diversity and adaptation are central themes influencing the outcome of disease and intervention in relation to age. They are also common themes with other efforts of the JSMF initiative at SFI. | ||
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| + | == MEETING ORGANIZATION == | ||
| + | The first two days of the working group each begin with a general discussion of broad themes and goals associated with the working group and the JSMF/SFI Aging and the Arrow of Time initiative followed by participant introductions by way of research presentations. The presentations are broken into complementary topical sessions which include (i) immune system dynamics and age, (ii) viral evolution and therapies (sessions A and B) (iii) host-pathogen (co)adaptation, diversification, and age, and (iv) complex time, environment, and aging in epidemiology. | ||
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| + | Each topical session will consist of 30-minute talks at a high enough level that everyone can follow. A 30-minute discussion session is scheduled at the end of each topical session, designed to explore themes and challenges arising in the session. | ||
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| + | The second day concludes with a discussion of emerging themes and opportunities for transformative research. The working group will identify novel questions for further development by 3-4 breakout groups on day three, designed to identify opportunities for future research and collaboration. The breakout groups will report back with summary presentations at the conclusion of the final day of the meeting. | ||
|Location=Santa Fe Institute | |Location=Santa Fe Institute | ||
|Type of event=Meeting | |Type of event=Meeting | ||
