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Center for Nonlinear Studies |
During the past decade, mathematical models, combined with experimental data, have made significant contributions to our understanding of HIV and other viral infections, such as hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), and influenza. However, there are still a lot of questions remaining unanswered. In this talk, I will discuss my recent work at LANL in modeling HIV/HCV infection and drug treatment. I will show how mathematical models help explain low-level HIV persistence, slow decay of the latent reservoir, and emergence of transient episodes of detectable viremia ("HIV blips"), in infected individuals despite apparently potent combination drug therapy (commonly known as the "cocktail therapy") for many years. Using a two-strain model, I will explain why drug resistant virus appears so rapidly in HCV patients treated with a new drug. These results improve our understanding of HIV/HCV dynamics during treatment and may have implications for clinical practice. I will also present a few future directions.
Host: Alan Perelson, T-6