Research Symposium

BIO

Imari Daniels is a senior student at Florida State University in the department of Arts and Sciences, where she is pursuing a degree in Biology. She is currently a transfer student participating in the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Program, where she is studying the dynamics of a biofilm when antibiotic-phage therapy and the immune system are present by modifying an existing mathematical model. She has research interest in genetics, molecular biology, and epidemiology.

Phage-Antibiotic Therapy with Bacterial Swimmers in a Biofilm

Abstract

We improved and analyzed a nonlinear population dynamics model of phage-antibiotic combination therapy that accounts for the synergistic elimination of bacteria using phages and the immune system. We simulate the combination therapy model for four strains of the same bacteria that have flagella, two that are phage sensitive (and antibiotic resistant) and two that are antibiotic sensitive (and phage resistant). Within these two types, one is a planktonic bacterium, and the other is within a biofilm. We chose to use phage-antibiotic combination therapy because research shows that they exceed in elimination better than phages and antibiotic by themselves. This model also takes in account the interaction that free swimming bacteria have on the biofilm.

Keywords: phage-antibiotics therapy, biofilm, Mathematical model