Darsh Gandhi

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Curriculum vitae



Mathematics

The University of Texas at Arlington



Pseudomonas aeruginosa


Pseudomonas aeruginosa is an opportunistically pathogenic bacteria that causes fatal infections and epidemics in hospital environments. Due to the growing prevalence of antibiotic-resistant strains of P. aeruginosa, looking for alternative therapies is crucial. Bacteriophage therapy is emerging as a promising solution; however, it has not been approved for human clinical use and suffers from a lack of understanding of the complex dynamics between bacterial cells and phage virions. Mathematical models provide insight into these dynamics. Through a system of ordinary differential equations, we determined appropriate biological assumptions to effectively capture the complex dynamics observed between susceptible, infected, and mutated bacterial cells with bacteriophage virions in a microwell setting. Data fitting based on this model produced a set of parameter estimates unique to our experimental observations of a specific phage and P. aeruginosa strain. In translating observed optical density readings into bacterial concentrations, we also found that bacterial debris has a significant impact on optical density, with a lysed bacterium contributing roughly 40% as much to optical density readings as a living cell.
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