Understanding the complex interplay between host and pathogen during infection is critical for developing diagnostics and improving therapeutic interventions. Among the diverse arsenal employed by the host, antimicrobial peptides (AMP) play a key role in the defense against pathogens. We propose an immune evasion mechanism termed “Complex-mediated evasion” (CME), that allows pathogens to protect themselves against AMP and investigate it through mathematical modeling and computer simulations. To achieve CME, we hypothesize that the pathogen secretes defense molecules that bind AMP. When bound within the complex, AMP are unable to harm the pathogen. Due to molecular gradients, complexes may diffuse away from the pathogen, enhancing the protective effect of the mechanism by decreasing the concentration of AMP in the vicinity of the pathogen. We establish a mathematical model to (i) explore the sensitivity of the mechanism to various parameters and (ii) simulate the immune evasion of the human-pathogenic fungus Candida albicans.
KITE – EPIDEMIOLOGICAL MODELLING OF INFECTION SPREAD IN CHILD CARE FACILITIES
KITE (KIndergarten Test scenario Evaluator) is a state-based model for simulating the spread of different airborne viruses in kindergartens. The…
Mcat
Our MSOT cluster analysis toolkit enables the quantitative and automated analysis of multispectral optoacoustic tomography (MSOT) images. The pharmacokinetics of…