The University of Florida Conference on Theoretical Immunology (UFCTI-2002), May 23-25, 2002, Gainesville, FL

University Of Florida, Gainesville FL

Investigators

Abstract

Pilyugin 0124610 The investigator and his colleagues organize a conference on theoretical immunology. The field of theoretical immunology has become a prominent direction in biomathematics and it concerns mathematical modeling of the biocomplexity in the immune system, and more specifically the generation of immune responses to infections, generation and maintenance of immune memory, understanding the mechanisms that govern persistent infections, designing optimal strategies for antibiotic treatment of infectious diseases, and vaccine development. The main goals of this conference are to advance the interaction between theoretical and experimental directions of immunological research and to facilitate a better communication between science and medicine. The conference focuses on modern approaches to mathematical modeling of immune processes using differential equations and dynamical systems, game theory, mathematical statistics, stochastic processes and computer simulations, as well as mathematical algorithms for data mining and data fitting. The conference features lectures by prominent scientists on fundamental results in the field as well as reports on work in progress. A special session is devoted to the discussion of new directions and most significant problems of theoretical immunology in the near future. The immune system is our primary defense against viruses and infections. Theoretical immunology is a relatively young field of science that deals with theoretical modeling of interactions between immune system and invading parasites. Mathematical and computer models are used to unify our understanding of the extremely complex functioning of the immune system. Such theoretical models allow scientists to sort through the growing wealth of experimental and clinical data and extract fundamentally important features of immunity, design new experiments, and optimize the performance of drugs and vaccines. The meeting aims to bridge the gap between theoretical and experimental biology and medicine and advance the theory of immune processes to address the current needs of medicine and biotechnology. The conference has an educational impact by exposing younger researchers and graduate students to the present challenges in immunology and facilitating their future scientific careers.