In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy in Quantitative Biosciences
in the School of Biological Sciences

Marian Dominguez Mirazo

Defends her thesis:

Impact of Latent Period Variability on Viral Dynamics

Wednesday April 30th, 2025

10:00am

In-Person Location: EBB 4029

Meeting Link: https://gatech.zoom.us/j/91510209483

Committee members: 

Joshua S. Weitz, Ph.D., Department of Biology, University of Maryland

Sam Brown, Ph.D., School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology

Jennifer E. Curtis, Ph.D., School of Physics, Georgia Institute of Technology

Steve Diggle, Ph.D., School of Biological Sciences, Georgia Institute of Technology

Alison Buchan, Ph.D., Department of Microbiology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville

Abstract:

Bacteriophages (phages) are fascinating organisms—tiny, abundant, and profoundly influential in microbial ecosystems. A critical aspect of understanding phage ecology lies in their life-history traits, which describe how they infect and replicate. These traits not only influence the phage's ability to reproduce and spread but also shape their interactions with bacterial hosts, affecting population dynamics and evolutionary processes. While life-history traits are often studied as fixed parameters, phages exhibit significant variability in these traits. This thesis explores the nature and consequences of such variability, focusing on latent period variability, and its implications for phage dynamics and fitness through a combination of theoretical modeling and experimental approaches. Overall, we demonstrate that variability in life-history traits is a fundamental driver of viral dynamics and offer a robust framework for quantifying and interpreting that variability in both theoretical and empirical contexts.