SoPA Colloquium: Understanding Biofilm-Phage Interactions in Cystic Fibrosis via Math

Physics Colloquium
Understanding Biofilm-Phage Interactions in Cystic Fibrosis via Math
Dr. Blessing Emerenini
Assistant Professor
School of Mathematical Science RIT

Abstract:
Biofilm formation within host can be extremely problematic if left untreated. Certain lung diseases such as cystic fibrosis can cause biofilms formation in the lungs. With antibiotic-resistant bacteria, the use of phage therapy has been introduced as an alternative or an additive to the use of antibiotics in order to combat biofilm growth. The aim of using phage treatment is to reduce biofilm growth or completely eradicate biofilm from the host. There are several factors that still need to be understood during this process, e.g the role of burst size. This presentation will introduce the use of mathematical models and data assimilation to determine several factors that could lead to controlling biofilm growth or eradicate it using phage therapy.

Speaker Bio:
Blessing Emerenini, Ph.D. is an Assistant Processor in the School of Mathematical Sciences at Rochester Institute of Technology. She received her B.S. degree in Mathematics and Computer Science from Federal University of Technology (FUTO) Nigeria and her M.S. from University of Technology Eindhoven Netherlands and Johannes Kepler University Linz Austria through the prestigious Erasmus Mundus program. Her Ph.D is in Applied Mathematics with focus in mathematical biology from university of Guelph, Canada as a recipient of the HQP-OMAFRA grant. Her research program is best described as mathematical modeling across One Health for human, animal and plant epidemics with the aim of modeling infectious disease outbreaks, epidemic forecasting and control between host and therapeutic interventions for within-host infection dynamics. She is currently serving in the graduate curriculum committee in the school of Mathematical Science at RIT.

Intended Audience: All are Welcome

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