Bioinformatics group
Utrecht University
Room Z528
Padualaan 8
3584 CH Utrecht
the Netherlands
phone: +31 30 2533812
fax: +31 30 2513655
email: T.Mugwagwa@uu.nl
Bioinformatics group Utrecht University Room Z528 Padualaan 8 3584 CH Utrecht the Netherlands phone: +31 30 2533812 fax: +31 30 2513655 email: T.Mugwagwa@uu.nl | |
| Current position: | Ph.D. Student |
| Research area: | Theoretical Immunology |
| Focus area: | Mathematical modelling and data analysis of T lymphocyte dynamics |
| Supervisors: | Prof.dr Rob J de Boer and Dr Jose Borghans |
| Collaborators: | Dr Kiki Tesselar and Ineke den Braber |
I am interested in developing mathematical models to interpret experimental data as well as quantify turnover rates of different cell subsets. Currently, in my PhD studies at Utrecht University, I am working on understanding the mechanisms of T cell homeostasis and trying to answer the simple question: "How long does a T cell live ?". Understanding these basic concepts provide a clearer picture of the dynamics of T cells during lymphopenia driven for example by HIV infection and T cell dynamics during reconstitution.
For my MSc research with Dr Gareth Witten at the University of Cape Town, I worked on
"Mathematical models of coreceptor usage and a dendritic cell based
vaccine during HIV-1 infection." The work was based on three research
questions:
(i) What is the driving force for coreceptor usage
switching?
(ii) What are the long term outcomes of a dentritic
cell based HIV-1 vaccine? and
(iii) What impact will such a vaccine
have on coreceptor usage and hence disease progression?
More on this
work in my Msc
Thesis and
paper .
My post-graduate diploma essay with Dr Gareth Witten at AIMS was on "The role of CD8 immune responses in HIV infection". This project was largely a review on the role of lytic and non-lytic CD8 immune responses in viral control. The essay also discusses the role of coreceptor switching and use of different target cells as a mechanism of disease progression.
| June 2008 | ECMTB 2008 - Edinburgh, UK
Thymic contribution to naive T cell homeostasis |
| August 2008 | Mali symposium of applied sciences - Bamako, Mali
Long term outcomes of a dentritic cell based therapeutic HIV-1 vaccine |
| May 2008 | An International Workshop: Lymphocyte kinetics in health and disease -London, UK
T lymphocyte turnover rates in young mice. |
| January 2008 | Midwinter Conference of Immunologists - Asilomar, USA
The quantitative role of thymic output versus peripheral proliferation and longevity in the maintenance of naive CD4+ and CD8+ T-cells in mice. |
| April 2007 | 14th international meeting "HIV dynamics and
evolution" - Segovia, Spain.
Biphasic Trec dynamics in acute HIV-1 infection. |
| Dec 2006,2007 | Annual meeting of the Dutch Immunology Society
(NVVI) - Noordwijkerhout, The Netherlands
2006: Biphasic Trec dynamics in acute HIV-1 infection. 2007: Naive T cells are not maintained after thymectomy. |
| 2005-present | Utrecht University, The Netherlands.
(Theoretical immunology group). Ph.D., Theoretical biology. |
| 2004-2005 | University of Cape Town, South Africa.
(Department of Applied Mathematics). M.Sc., Applied mathematics. |
| 2003-2004 | African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Muizenberg, South Africa.
Post-Graduate Diploma, Mathematical Sciences, Distinction. |
| 1998-2002 | University of Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe.
(Bindura University of Science education) . B.Sc.Ed, Mathematics & Biology. |