Date/Time Date(s) - 04/03/202411:30 am - 12:30 pm
Location: HH 207
Speaker: Evan Mitchell
Title: Maternity and the Stronger Immune Response in Women
Abstract: Medical research reports that women often exhibit stronger immune responses than men, while pathogens tend to be more virulent in men. Current explanations cannot account for this pattern, creating an obstacle for our understanding of infectious disease outcomes and the incidence of autoimmune diseases. This talk details a paper that offers an alternative explanation that relies on a fundamental difference between the sexes: maternity and the opportunities it creates for transmission of pathogens from mother to child. The aim of this talk is to use this project as a way of discussing some examples of how we can apply mathematical techniques to biological problems.