Speaker: Mudassar Imran,
Department of Mathematics and Statistics,
Arizona State University

Title: Model for Antibiotic Resistence in Biofilms

Abstract:A mathematical model of the effect of antibiotics on bacterial biofilm is considered. According to US National Institute of Health " Biofilms are medically important, accounting for over 80% of microbial infections in the body" such as Otitis media, the most common acute ear infection in children in U.S. Biofilms are highly resistant to antibiotics.Consequently, very high and/or long-term doses are often required to eradicate biofilm-related infections. We consider a two-compartment, chemostat-based model where one compartment has a very high dilution rate as compared to the other compartment. A constant supply of nutrient and a periodically fluctuating antibiotic agent is supplied to the high dilution compartment. The model assumes that antibiotic increases the death rate as its concentration is increased. We use persistence theory as well as global bifurcation results for a mathematical analysis of periodic solutions.