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Ami Radunskaya (Pomona College)
March 25 @ 4:15 pm - 5:15 pm
Title: Can a function tell us how immune cells kill?
Speaker: Prof. Ami Radunskaya (Pomona College, Claremont CA)
Abstract: The immune system is able to fight cancer by mustering and training an army of effector “killer” cells. Mathematical models of tumor-immune interactions must describe the proliferation, recruiting and killing rates of immune cells. Earlier work surprisingly showed that the functions describing the kill rates distinguish between two types of immune cells. The mechanisms behind these differences have been a mystery, however. In an attempt to unravel this mystery, we have created a cell-based fixed-lattice model that simulates immune cell and tumor cell interaction involving tumor recognition and two killing mechanisms. These mechanisms play a big role in the effectiveness of many cancer immunotherapies. Results from model simulations, along with theories developed by ecologists, can help to illuminate which mechanisms are at work in different conditions.