Josh Weitz

Professor and Tom and Marie Patton Chair in Biological Sciences, Georgia Tech

Modeling Shield Immunity—From Concept to Implementation

June 25, 2024—12:00 PM Eastern Time

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Talk Abstract:

Developing intervention strategies that can reduce transmission and alleviate the impacts of social distancing is an essential goal of long-term public health responses to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. In this talk I will describe our efforts to develop models of ‘shield immunity’, i.e., leveraging serological testing and the increased interaction rates of recovered individuals to reduce new chains of transmission and foster safer economic re-engagement. I will then discuss initial steps to translate these principles into actions, including connecting serological test analytics and developing feasibility models for implementation in pilot settings.

Speaker Bio:

The Weitz group is interested in the structure and dynamics of complex biological systems. The primary mission is to understand how viruses transform human health and the fate of our planet.

The research group includes physicists, computational biologists, mathematicians, and bioinformaticians working on three major research themes: (i) viral dynamics at the molecular, population and evolutionary scales; (ii) theoretical ecology and evolutionary biology; (iii) disease dynamics and epidemiology. The work in the Weitz group is primarily theoretical/computational in nature, and utilizes the tools of nonlinear dynamics, stochastic processes, and large-scale data analysis to interact with experimentalists.

Examples of recent and ongoing projects include studies of viral-host infection networks, dynamics of complex viral-host communities, the spread and control of infectious diseases, and the link between game theory and strategic behavior of viruses and microbes.