Speaker:
Tarek Fahmy
Seminar Date:
Friday, November 13, 2015 - 12:00pm
Location:
BECTON SEMINAR ROOM
15 Prospect Street
New Haven, CT
The immune system is a complex network of molecules, cells, and tissue that screen its own components, protect the body,
and attack invaders such as bacteria or viruses. As such, the Immune system is a Distributed Control System (DCS) defined
as multiple elements, not centralized,that control a process output based on input parameters and internal setpoints.
Understanding how the immune system works has been the focus of decades of hard work and multiple nobel prizes in
medicine and biology. Only recently, however, did Engineers become interested and with this interest the beginnings of a
paradigm shift in how we perform immunotherapy and use diagnostics for surveying immunity is taking place. While, the
immune process inputs, outputs, set points and output are well-established, how the controller functions to yield specific
outputs remains enigmatic. Here I will compare and contrast what we know about DCS and Immune system architecture and
function. Then, I will discuss how immune modulation is currently performed in clinical settings. Finally, I will end with a
series of questions that outline how unrelated challenges and their solutions in DCS controlled processes such as the chemical
process industry may serve to address and/or assist some of the most challenging health problems of today. Involving
restoration of immune competence, vaccine development, and cancer immunotherapy.
Host:
Eric Altman