Viruses, vaccines, immunity and pandemics
ORAL · Invited
Abstract
Viruses, Immunity, and Vaccines
Arup K. Chakraborty
Departments of Chemical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry
Institute for Medical Engineering & Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Infectious disease-causing pathogens have plagued humanity since antiquity, and the COVID-19 pandemic has been a vivid reminder of this perpetual existential threat. Vaccination has saved more lives than any other medical procedure, and indeed, effective vaccines now promise to control the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we do not have effective vaccines against rapidly mutating viruses, such as HIV; nor do we have a universal vaccine against seasonal variants of influenza or SARS-CoV-2 variants that may evolve in the future. The ability to develop effective vaccines that protect us from highly mutable viruses will help create a more pandemic-resilient world. In this talk, I will describe how by bringing together approaches from statistical physics, learning theory, virology and immunology, progress is being made to address this challenge. The application of these fundamental concepts to HIV and influenza vaccines will be discussed.
Arup K. Chakraborty
Departments of Chemical Engineering, Physics, and Chemistry
Institute for Medical Engineering & Science
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT & Harvard
Infectious disease-causing pathogens have plagued humanity since antiquity, and the COVID-19 pandemic has been a vivid reminder of this perpetual existential threat. Vaccination has saved more lives than any other medical procedure, and indeed, effective vaccines now promise to control the COVID-19 pandemic. However, we do not have effective vaccines against rapidly mutating viruses, such as HIV; nor do we have a universal vaccine against seasonal variants of influenza or SARS-CoV-2 variants that may evolve in the future. The ability to develop effective vaccines that protect us from highly mutable viruses will help create a more pandemic-resilient world. In this talk, I will describe how by bringing together approaches from statistical physics, learning theory, virology and immunology, progress is being made to address this challenge. The application of these fundamental concepts to HIV and influenza vaccines will be discussed.
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Presenters
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Arup K Chakraborty
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, University of California, Berkeley
Authors
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Arup K Chakraborty
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, MIT, University of California, Berkeley