Date/Time
Date(s) - 12/11/2014
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm

Title: Photons. Phonons. Virions? An Intro to Virophysics

Speaker: Dr. Catherine A.A. Beauchemin

Institute: Ryerson University

Location: ABB 102

Description:

Viral infections are nonlinear, stochastic, complex processes involving many variables. They form an excitable, dynamical system capable of learning and adapting to a changing environment. But the mechanisms underlying these dynamics have not been formalized into laws and equations, and generally lack a quantitative description. My research is in the field of virophysics, utilizing physical models to resolve the temporal (and sometimes spatial) dynamics of viral infection spread from cell to cell within a host (in vivo) or a cell culture (in vitro). Our models have enabled us to determine the impact of individual mutations in
the influenza virus on its fitness. But the accurate nature of our method has also allowed us to identify problems with the experimental protocols used to evaluate the efficacy of antivirals or the virulence of certain influenza strains. Indeed, as the accuracy of our models increases, so
does our need for increasingly accurate experimental data which typical assays cannot provide. In this talk, I will review what we have learned about the physics of virology and the challenges we now face which I believe physicists are uniquely positioned to take on.