Special Session 94: Computational and Mathematical Approaches to Understanding Complex Biological Systems

Oscillations in a Spatial Oncolytic Virus Model

Arwa Baabdulla
United Arab Emirates University
United Arab Emirates
Co-Author(s):    Thomas Hillen
Abstract:
Virotherapy treatment is a new and promising target therapy that selectively attacks cancer cells without harming normal cells. Mathematical models of oncolytic viruses have shown predator-prey like oscillatory patterns as result of an underlying Hopf bifurcation. In a spatial context, these oscillations can lead to different spatio-temporal phenomena such as hollow-ring patterns, target patterns, and dispersed patterns. In this talk, we present the systematic analysis of these spatial oscillations and discuss their relevance in the clinical context. We consider a bifurcation analysis of a spatially explicit reaction-diffusion model to find the above mentioned spatio-temporal virus infection patterns. The desired pattern for tumor eradication is the hollow ring pattern and we find exact conditions for its occurrence.