Hwayeon Ryu, associate professor of mathematics, along with Elon students and an alumnus published a paper in Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering on investigating immune dysregulation in COVID-19.
Elon students Pagnapech “Pech” Ngoun ’26 and Nicolas Alvarez ’27, alumnus Ayesh Awad ’24, and Associate Professor of Mathematics Hwayeon Ryu published a peer-reviewed article titled “Immune dysregulation in COVID-19: Mathematical modeling of the within-host dynamics” in Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering, one of the leading journals in the field of mathematical biology.
This article investigates how the human immune system responds to SARS-CoV-2 infection, with a particular focus on natural killer cells and cytokine regulation and their roles in determining disease severity. Using a mathematical, within-host model that combines viral dynamics with immune interactions, the study explores how different immune responses can lead to either viral clearance or severe inflammation. The findings provide insight into key immune mechanisms and offer guidance for identifying potential targets for future COVID-19 treatments. This work is a result of a National Science Foundation-funded project on COVID-19 mathematical modeling.
Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering is an interdisciplinary journal promoting cutting-edge research, technology transfer and knowledge translation about complex data and information processing at the interface of mathematics, biology, medicine and engineering.