Tuesday
Wednesday
Workshop Announcemenet:
There is a clear need for the development of a predictive framework, based on mathematical modelling and computer simulations, that can be used to help design optimal vaccination strategies. This was the primary objective of the working group organized by John Glasser and Herbert Hethcote that met at DIMACS in May, 2004. One aspect of vaccine use that does not often receive much attention, however, is the evolutionary consequences of these vaccines. For example, what effects might vaccine use have on the evolutionary dynamics of pathogen populations, and how might these evolutionary changes affect the ability of the vaccine to control a certain disease? Additionally, do different vaccination strategies result in different evolutionary outcomes? Given the extensive genetic variability in many pathogens (such as HIV, influenza A H2N2, malaria and some vaccine-preventable diseases like polio, MMR, Chickenpox, yellow fever, tetanus, pneumococcal disease etc.), evolutionary change in response to vaccination is potentially significant. Our main objective is to to examine general evolution-related questions for any disease for which there is a vaccine (or hope for one).
The proposed workshop will focus on the following five main themes:
(i) Modes of Vaccine Action.
(ii) Multiple Levels of Natural Selection.
(iii) Conflicts Between Epidemiology and Evolution.
(iv) Vaccination & Virulence.
(v) Mechanisms of Vaccine Delivery.
The proposed workshop will bring together scientists from diverse backgrounds (mathematicians, epidemiologists, virologists, immunologists, vaccine developers etc.) in order to address the questions raised within the aforementioned themes.