Division of Interdisciplinary Sciences
Title : From the specific to the general and back: HIV-AIDS, COVID-19, and beyond
Date and TIme : 25th February 2021 at 4.00 p.m.
Speaker : Prof. Narendra M. Dixit, Chair, Centre for Biosystems Science and Engineering,
Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering
Prof. Govindan Rangarajan, Director, IISc will preside.
Please use following link to join the colloquium:
https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_ODc0NmJlOGYtZjMzNS00ODU3LTg4ZDAtMGZhMDYyZGMzZTRh%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%226f15cd97-f6a7-41e3-b2c5-ad4193976476%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2248a9854f-3460-4cfe-a5a7-6460ba0d9e59%22%2c%22IsBroadcastMeeting%22%3atrue%7d
Abstract :
Physical sciences seek to unravel broad, general principles, whereas biological sciences revel in specifics. What happens at the interface? I will present the glimpse we have obtained from our work on modelling viral infections. We are all acutely aware today that a diverse spectrum of outcomes is realized following SARS-CoV-2 infection, from cure without any symptoms on one end of the spectrum to death on the other. What determines these outcomes? This question is relevant to other viral infections too, like HIV, hepatitis C, and influenza. We have developed a general framework, by distilling the complex biology involved into its essential ingredients, and recapitulated the different outcomes realized. I will describe the framework and then examine how it can be applied to specific viral infections. Interventions, including drug therapies and vaccines, can be viewed as handles to engineer the outcomes. In this light, I will examine some interventions under development for HIV and the workings of COVID-19 vaccines.
About the Speaker :
Narendra M Dixit has a B. Tech. from IIT Bombay and an M. S. and a Ph. D. from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, all in chemical engineering. He did post-doctoral work in theoretical biology and biophysics at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. He is currently Professor of Chemical Engineering and Chair of the Centre for Biosystems Science and Engineering at IISc and a Senior Fellow of the DBT / Welcome Trust India Alliance.
All are welcome
