CMMB Seminar: Stochastic dynamics and the adaptive immune system

Grant Lythe from the Department of Applied Mathematics at the University of Leeds will present his work on T cells.

Abstract: 

How do T cells move inside a lymph node and how often do they meet antigen-presenting cells?  The simplest type of continuous random motion is Brownian motion, described by a single parameter, D, that can be calculated by plotting the mean-square displacement as a function of time.  Why do cells appear to migrate randomly?  It may be that any one cell  maintains a preferred direction for a short time, before selecting another direction at random, because T cells appear to make use of the reticular network, a web of intersecting fibres.

How is a diverse repertoire of T cells maintained?  We consider a stochastic model of many T cells, divided into clonotypes, competing  for division stimuli of many different types. We study the dynamics of clonotypes and the timescales for extinction.