Weitz Group

Investigating how viruses transform human health and the fate of our planet

Investigating how viruses transform human health and the fate of our planet.      

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Shashwat successfully defends his dissertation, earning his Ph.D. in Electrical & Computer Engineering.

March 28, 2023 by scallahan30

On March 22nd, 2023, Shashwat Shivam successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Endogenous and Exogenous Control of Virus-Host Dynamics,’’ earning his Ph.D. in electrical & computer engineering.

Congratulations, Shashwat!

To learn more about Shashwat’s dissertation, read the abstract below.

Optimization and control techniques are ubiquitous and used in diverse fields such as Mathematics, Engineering and Science. In this thesis, we focus on applications of model-based optimization and control in complex, nonlinear virus-host systems. In model-based optimization, the system dynamics are either known or partially estimated using data. Here, we consider virus-host systems where the control can be endogenous or externally imposed. For endogenous control, we study the lysis-lysogeny decision for phage-bacteria system. To emulate natural selection, we use optimal control techniques and try to find the decision strategies which maximize the fitness of the phage. For exogenous control, we study pandemics caused by viruses (specifically COVID-19) and design both pharmacological and non-pharmacological intervention strategies to mitigate its impact.

Filed Under: Accomplishment Tagged With: Foundations of quantitative viral ecology

The group welcomes Tapan Goel

September 19, 2022 by adavidson38 Leave a Comment

The group recently officially welcomed Tapan Goel, a new postdoctoral researcher. Tapan is a biophysicist broadly interested in how complex behaviors emerge in biological systems from relatively simple “inter-particle” interactions. To answer this question, Tapan uses tools from non-linear dynamics and statistical physics. In the Weitz Group, Tapan will be working to develop models of virus-host interactions to understand how viral strategies evolve over time.

Learn more about Tapan here.

 

Filed Under: New group member Tagged With: Foundations of quantitative viral ecology

Daniel successfully defends his dissertation, earning his Ph.D. in Quantitative Biosciences.

June 10, 2022 by adavidson38

On June 9th, 2022, Daniel Muratore successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Emergence of Marine Biogeochemical Dynamics Across Scales Drive by Complex Microbial and Viral Communities,’’ earning his Ph.D. in quantitative biosciences.

Congratulations, Daniel!

To learn more about Daniel’s dissertation, read the abstract below.

Marine microbial populations are subject to the dual pressures of bottom-up nutrient limitation and top-down infection by abundant viruses. However, top-down and bottom-up controls do not act independently. Environmental conditions also have a large impact on the ecology and evolution of viral populations. This thesis explores the mutual feedbacks between the bottom-up and top-down drivers of marine microbial ecosystems.

The first part of this thesis studies two Lagrangian field campaigns conducted in oligotrophic gyres – one in the North Pacific and one in the Sargasso Sea. Emergent ecosystem-level diel cycles in nutrient uptake and assimilation show partitioning of key limiting resources. We also identify diel coordination of viral gene transcription across vast viral diversity.

The second part studies eco-evolutionary responses of marine virus infection strategies and variable environmental conditions. A comparative metagenomic study of genomic and proteomic nitrogen content across the Eastern Tropical North Pacific oxygen minimum zone identifies genome streamlining in bacteria, archaea, and viruses across nitrogen gradients. Then, we construct and analyze a game theoretic model of the evolution of strategies for viruses and their hosts in iron-limited environments, where viruses can use specialized host iron uptake mechanisms to facilitate infection. We identify conditions for the coexistence of hosts with and without this iron uptake capacity, and viruses that do or do not leverage it for infection.

Filed Under: Accomplishment Tagged With: Foundations of quantitative viral ecology, Microbial ecology & evolution

Register for the 6th annual Quantitative Biosciences hands-on modeling workshop

April 14, 2022 by adavidson38 Leave a Comment

Applications are now open to register for the 6th annual QBioS hands-on modeling workshop. This in-person, hands-on workshop, organized by the first-year cohort of Quantitative Biosciences PhD students, the first-year cohort of InQuBATE PhD students, Prof. Joshua Weitz, and  Prof. J.C. Gumbart, serves to introduce scientists of all experience levels to the process of modeling stochastic gene expression.

The workshop will include an opening lecture by group member and postdoctoral researcher, Adriana Lucia-Sanz, and a Plenery lecture by Professor Ido Golding, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). There will also be hands-on tutorials on implementing computational stochastic models of gene expression using Python or Matlab – no experience necessary!

To learn more or apply, visit https://workshop2022.qbios.gatech.edu

Filed Under: Education Tagged With: Foundations of quantitative viral ecology

Winter school, “Quantitative Viral Dynamics Across Scales,” comes to a close

April 11, 2022 by adavidson38 Leave a Comment

Paris Sciences et Lettres (PSL) University hosted a winter school centered around Quantitative Viral Dynamics Across Scales. Organized by Prof. Weitz, the school ran for one week (March 21-25, 2022) in Paris, France, and aimed to “bring thought leaders in dialogue with the next generation of early-career scientists to advance the integrative study of quantitative viral dynamics across scales.” Prof. Weitz also served as a lecturer and Scientific Committee Chair. Other guest lecturers include Weitz Group research scientist David Demory, postdoctoral fellow Jacopo Marchi, and several group collaborators.

Filed Under: Education, Science Communication Tagged With: Education, Foundations of quantitative viral ecology, Science communication

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The Weitz Group

Investigating how viruses transform human health and the fate of our planet

310 Ferst Dr
School of Biological Sciences
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA 30332, USA

Website developed by Audra Davidson for the Weitz Group, 2021. For more information on the group, contact Dr. Gabi Steinbach: gabi.steinbach (@) biosci.gatech.edu

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