Mathematical Virology

Reidun Twarock, University of York

Mathematical Virology

During my entire career I have been interested in group theoretical and algebraic structures and their applications. A mathematical physicist by training I initially focussed on applications in physics.

A talk given by a biophysicist at the International Conference on Theoretical Physics in July 2002 was pivotal in drawing my attention to viruses because I learned that viruses exhibit symmetries akin to the structures I had been working with before. A discussion with a virologist at the Biomedicum in Uppsala in Sweden, where I was visiting the Department of Mathematics later that same year to work on an algebraic problem, drew my attention to an important open problem concerning the structure of viruses; I realised that the techniques I had developed previously were the right tools to tackle it.

Initially, I worked all by myself. Financial support from an EPSRC Advanced Fellowship allowed me to fully dedicate my time to this project as this fellowship financed a teaching replacement for my Lectureship position in London.

The more insights I got while working on this project, the clearer it became to me that mathematics acts as a microscope that is able to predict the geometric boundary conditions on virus architecture. Combined with techniques from bioinformatics, biophysics and computational chemistry, these mathematical results proved to be powerful tools, a basis for understanding how viruses form, evolve and infect their hosts.

Two years ago I started building up my own interdisciplinary research team with substantial long-term funding provided by a Research Leadership Award from the Leverhulme Trust. This award is currently funding three PhD students and three Postdocs, with a critical mass of expertise in mathematics, biophysics, bioinformatics and computational biology. In order to ensure the impact of our mathematical results in biology, it is moreover important to work in close collaboration with experiment. Such an interdisciplinary exchange is inspiring for all parties involved, with biology triggering the invention of new mathematical tools, and mathematical modelling providing ideas for new experiments, leading to insights that none of the disciplines could derive on their own. We hold bi-monthly group meetings with our experimental collaborators during which the latest theoretical and experimental results are discussed and new avenues for interdisciplinary research identified.

Seeing the real life impact of my research is a very rewarding experience and I am thoroughly enjoying every step on the way.

From my experience of working in this interdisciplinary area it has become clear how important it will be in future to establish joint experimental and theoretical research institutes in the life sciences, akin to those traditionally known from areas such as physics, where different theoretical and experimental disciplines work hand in hand on the challenging problems faced by society. Clearly, mathematics will have an important role to play in such endeavours.