The Department of Applied Mathematics is pleased to host this series of colloquium lectures, funded in part by a generous gift from the Boeing Company. This series will bring to campus prominent applied mathematicians from around the world.
Speaker: Alan Perelson, Los Alamos National Laboratory
Date: May 10th, 2018, 4pm
Location: (SMI 205)
Title: Using applied mathematics to cure viral infections
Abstract: Although mathematics is sometimes thought of as being abstract and not of much practical use, theoretical ideas expressed mathematically changed the way we think about viral infections and their treatment. I will show how this approach lead to the introduction of combination antiretroviral therapy that has converted HIV from a death sentence to a manageable chronic disease and how it now may lead to a functional cure. I will also briefly highlight how mathematics helped pave the way to the new antiviral drugs now curing hepatitis C.