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Image courtesy of Dr. Denise Kirschner, University of Michigan

A Multi-scale Approach for Understanding Antigen Presentation in Immunity

Contents

• Contact Information
• Funding Agency 
• Research Emphasis 
• Disease Focus 
• Scales Examined 
• Modeling Methods & Tools  
• Software Development 

Contact Information

Principal Investigator/Contact
Denise E. Kirschner
University of Michigan
Phone: (734) 647-7722
Fax: (734) 764-3562
E-mail: kirschne@umich.edu
Project Web Site: http://malthus.micro.med.umich.edu/MSM/

Co-PIs and Collaborators
J. Flynn, Co-PI
University of Pittsburgh

M. Miller, Consultant
Washington University

D. Ghosh, Co-PI
University of Michigan

J. Linderman, Co-PI
University of Michigan 

Grant Number - 1-R01-LM-009027-01

Funding Agency

National Library of Medicine (NIH-NLM) and National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIH-NIAID)

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Research Emphasis

The human immune response works to either clear or control pathogens upon infection. Antigen presentation is critical to the immune response. It is the process by which peptide fragments of pathogens are taken up by cells and displayed on the cell surface. Events at multiple scales (genetic, molecular, cellular, tissue, and organ) are involved in this process. A comprehensive understanding of antigen presentation will require an integrated picture of events that are occurring over multiple spatial and time scales.

The specific goal of the project is to use mathematical and statistical models towards understanding antigen presentation during Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. M. tuberculosis is the causative agent of tuberculosis, and the leading cause of death due to infectious disease in the world today. M. tuberculosis is an intracellular bacterial pathogen. As the premise behind vaccines is to train the immune system to recognize pathogens and to quickly respond, information gained from this study can be immediately applied to vaccine design for Mycobacterium tuberculosis and other pathogens. 

The researchers will be utilizing data from non-human primate and mouse systems.

Disease Focus

Tuberculosis, Immunology.

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Scales Examined 

Time Scales

• Microsecond (μs)
• Millisecond (ms)
• Second(s)
• Minutes
• Hours
• Days

Biological Scales

• Molecular
• Molecular Complexes
• Sub-Cellular
• Cellular
• Multi-Cellular Systems
• Tissue
• Organ
• Organ Systems 

Length Scales 

• Nanometer and below (nm)
• Micrometer (μm)
• Millimeter (mm)
• Centimeter (cm) 

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Modeling Methods and Tools (MMT)Areas and Percent Focus

Ordinary Differential Equations (several non-linear types, all continuous, determistic approaches) and Agent-based Model (stochastic, discrete approach).  

Software Development