Mathematical and computational plague hazard assessment

研究背景生物威胁给平民和军事人员带来的风险，无论是来自自然发生的疾病还是恶意攻击，都是英国政府的最高优先事项之一。目的和目标目的是设计数学模型和计算工具，可用于支持危险病原体的治疗研究，并模拟宿主生物体内病原体和免疫细胞相互作用的种群之间的竞争动态。该项目的研究对象是鼠疫耶尔森氏菌，这是一种革兰氏阴性细菌，也是鼠疫的病原体，鼠疫是人类和哺乳动物的一种疾病，自古以来就被人们认识到。由于从多个角度(公共卫生、防御和安全)将其作为一种威胁持续存在，有必要进行研究，以便更好地了解鼠疫杆菌感染的动态。由于它是高致病性的，只能在实验室最高级别的生物遏制下处理，因此很少有组织能够与鼠疫合作。然而，有大量已发表的数据，工业赞助商(DSTL)拥有大量的主题专业知识。潜在的应用和益处本博士项目旨在开发新的宿主内数学和计算模型，以描述通过吸入途径获得的鼠疫杆菌感染过程及其治疗。因此，DSTL和利兹大学合作开发鼠疫杆菌感染和治疗的宿主内创新模式对博士项目来说是一个重要而令人兴奋的挑战。这些模型将被整合，以提供一个工具包，可用于预测鼠疫杆菌气雾剂释放的后果，并研究最佳治疗策略。该工具包将允许在硅胶中测试不同的医学对策，还将允许探索其他方案，如抗生素耐药性。该研究项目与利兹大学的健康和全球挑战研究主题保持一致要获得的资格：应用数学博士学位

Context of researchThe risks to civilians and military personnel from biological threats, whether fromnaturally occurring diseases or malicious attacks, are among the highest priorities for the UK Government.Aims and objectivesThe aim is to devise mathematical models and computational tools that can be used to support research into the treatment of dangerous pathogens and simulate the dynamics of the competition between interacting populations of pathogens and immune cells within host organisms. The agent of interest in this project is Yersinia pestis (Y. pestis), which is a gram-negative bacterium and the causative agent of plague, a disease of humans and mammals which has been recognised since antiquity. Due to its persistence as a threat from numerous perspectives (public health, defence and security), research is necessary to develop a greater understanding of the dynamics of Y. pestis infection. Since it is highly pathogenic and can only be handled at the highest levels of biological containment in laboratories, very few organisations are able to work with plague. However, there is a substantial amount of published data, and the industrial sponsor (Dstl) possesses a great amount of subject matter expertise.Potential applications and benefitsThis PhD project aims to develop new within-host mathematical and computational models to describe the process of Y. pestis infection acquired via the inhalation route, and its treatment. The partnership between Dstl and University of Leeds to develop innovative within-host models of infection and treatment of Y. pestis therefore presents an important and exciting challenge for a PhD project. The models will be integrated to provide a toolset that can be used to predict the consequences of an aerosol release of Y. pestis, and to investigate optimal treatment strategies. The toolset will allow different medical countermeasures to be tested in silico and will also allow alternative scenarios, such as antibiotic resistance, to be explored. The research project is aligned with the Health and Global Challenges research theme at the University of LeedsQualification to be attained: Ph.D degree in Applied Mathematics