RUDN University professor speaks at a workshop on mathematical modeling in biology and medicine in Italy
Professor Volpert, Director of the Interdisciplinary Scientific Center for Mathematical Modeling in Biomedicine, spoke on behalf of RUDN University on the topic “Mathematical Modeling of Respiratory Viral Infections”.
“The report is devoted to recent work on mathematical modeling of viral infections from the point of view of their spread through cell culture and body tissues. It has been shown that the infection spreads in cell culture as a reaction-diffusion wave, for which the spread rate and viral load can be determined both analytically and numerically,” said Vitaly Volpert, Director of RUDN Interdisciplinary Scientific Center for Mathematical Modeling in Biomedicine.
Professor Volpert studied the competition of two variants of the virus in the same cell culture and showed that the variant with a higher individual wave speed outperforms the other and destroys it. This approach is applied to the Delta and Omicron variants of SARS-CoV-2 infection in human epithelial and lung cell cultures, allowing the infectivity and virulence of each variant to be characterized and compared.
Other presentations include:
- Adelia Sequeira (Portugal) reviewed mathematical models and methods for studying blood flow in blood vessels;
- Raluca Eftimie (France) studied the influence of the immune response on the growth of a cancerous tumor. Particular attention has been paid to the role of different types of macrophages;
- Malay Banerjee and Samiran Ghosh (India) spoke about the mathematical modeling of epidemics in applications to COVID-19. They introduced a new class of distributed or point delay models;
- Leon Tinet (France) discussed the impact of inflammation on the development of Alzheimer's disease.
At the workshop, the Beltrami Prize was awarded for outstanding achievements in scientific, pedagogical and organizational work. The winners were Doctor Honoris Causa of RUDN University Willy Jaeger from Germany and Luigi Preziosi from Italy. Willy Jaeger gave an overview report on COVID-19. Luigi Preziosi’s lecture was devoted to the influence of mechanical stresses on the behavior of biological cells.
On October 7–10, 2024 RUDN University Space Week traditionally took place. This event was dedicated to the World Space Week, which is celebrated annually in accordance with the UN General Assembly Resolution 54/68 (December 6, 1999) from October 4 to 10 to commemorate the launch of the first artificial satellite Sputnik-1 on October 4, 1957, and the signing of the Outer Space Treaty on October 10, 1967 – the fundamental international treaty in the field of international space law.
A RUDN agrotechnologist has identified wheat genotypes that are resistant to a dangerous fungal pathogen that infects plants even before the snow melts and reduces yields.
RUDN University engineers have calculated the parameters of a system that can prevent lunar power plants from overheating. These developments will be needed when planning for long-term lunar missions and colonizing the satellite.