Computational Mathematics Seminar

Wednesday, November 16, 3-4 pm, Thackeray 704

Speaker: Mr. Joshua Sulivan

Title: Mathematical modeling of the inflammatory response

Abstract:
When the body is attacked by a bacterial infection, it initiates a
series of events designed to eradicate the infection while causing
minimal damage to the body.  Our model is to investigate the defenses
of the organ walls to the spread of infection.  To do this we have
chosen to model a volume of the body that includes the organ wall, as
well as the lumen outside of it and the blood and tissue within it.
We have also taken into account the varied responses of the body, and
our model includes many interacting agents that are part of the
infection and defense processes, as well as agents that attempt to
prevent the infection from breaching the organ wall.  The model is
written in MATLAB, and has many visualization options to better see
the progression of the infection.  It is hoped that this model will
help us to understand the failure of the body's defenses in such
situations as NEC, and with this understanding a method of prevention
will hopefully be devised.