Date: Tuesday January 23, 2024 at 4:00 PM Eastern Time
Speaker: Ivan Ramirez Zuniga, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Associate
Affiliation: Laboratory for Systems Medicine, University of Florida
Title: Modeling the Energy Requirements of an Acute Immune Response during Sepsis.
Abstract: Mounting an adequate acute immune response against a pathogenic infection is energetically expensive. This response may overcome the infection and restore health but, if imbalanced, can lead to sepsis. In this talk I will first present a theoretical model of an immune response that includes the dynamics of energy demands during a pathogenic infection. We will explore some model features and use it to study altered metabolic states, including hypoglycemia, hyperglycemia, and hypoxia. Furthermore, I will present an updated data-driven model that integrates the dynamics of the acute inflammatory response with an improved representation of the energetic demand and production during an infection. This comprehensive model incorporates the dynamics of specific inflammation-related markers measured in non-human primates exposed to pathogens. Calibrating the updated model allowed us to identify parameters that may be crucial in determining survival outcomes.