Seminar
Lilit Yeghiazarian
A Multiscale Model of HIV-1 Transmission
The complexity of biomedical systems arises from multiplicity of agents interacting with
one another in many different ways. These interactions take place on and across many scales
of time, space and context, such as molecular, cellular, or social. In the process of these
interactions, networks are formed. Networks are everywhere as they are the very fabric of
complex systems and processes. To understand how processes that take place in networks on
different scales influence each other in case of HIV-1 disease, we have developed a stochastic
multi-scale model of HIV-1 transmission that integrates into a single framework the in-host
cellular dynamics, patient health states and infection spread in populations. This model
captures the temporal progression of disease in the population and allows simulation of medical
interventions. We have found that early therapy initiation, namely during the acute infection
phase, may substantially decrease the spread of disease.
