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2006
Monday, November 27, 2006 at 2:30 PM in MC 204
Computer Simulations of Protein Molecular Evolution and the Immune System Response to Vaccination and Disease
Dr. David Earl
Department of Chemistry
University of Pittsburgh
Abstract:
In this talk computer simulations based on random energy, NK models of protein evolution will be presented. The simulations demonstrate that concomitant with the evolution of biological diversity must have been the evolution of mechanisms that themselves facilitate evolution [1]. These models will then be used to study how the immune system responds to vaccination and disease[2] and results will be presented to show how localization in the immune system can lead to reduced, or even negative, efficacy of influenza vaccination[3].
[1] D. J. Earl and M. W. Deem, "Evolvability is a selectable trait," Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 101 (2004) 11531-11536
[2] J. Sun, D. J. Earl and M. W. Deem, "Glassy Dynamics in the Adaptive Immune Response Prevents Autoimmune Disease," Phys. Rev. Lett., 95 (2005) 148104
[3] V. Gupta, D. J. Earl and M. W. Deem, "Quantifying influenza vaccine efficacy and antigenic distance," Vaccine, 24 (2006) 3881-3888