DATE:

Friday, June 18, 2021

TIME:

3:30 PM

LOCATION:

Virtual Zoom Conference

SPEAKER:

Peter Uhl, PhD Candidate, Computational Science, San Diego State University

ABSTRACT:

Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic condition that is characterized primarily by build-up of a thick mucus layer in the lungs which causes frequent lung infections, chronic inflammation, and shortness of breath. The mucus layer in the lungs is colonized by a diverse community of opportunistic bacteria, many of which are pathogenic. The Climax-Attack Model (CAM) proposes that most of these bacteria can be grouped into two separate (but both pathogenic) communities: the faster-growing, transient, and facultative attack community, and the slower-growing, stable, aerobic climax community. In this talk, I will present several mathematical models to characterize the interaction of these two communities that exist in competition for a shared resource. Our model can describe a data set of the two communities obtained from a patient at the University of California San Diego Adult Cystic Fibrosis Clinic undergoing an exacerbation event and treatment with antibiotics. Using a spatially homogenous deterministic model, I will show that the dynamics between the two communities is governed by the oxygen dependent growth rate of the aerobic climax community. Since the interaction of the two communities is highly dependent on their location within the lung, I then introduce a spatially heterogeneous agent-based model to characterize how the communities coexist throughout space.

HOST:

Abraham Flores and the SDSU SIAM Student Chapter

VIDEO: