A primer in virophysics

Synopsis

My group's research focuses on the dynamical process by which a virus infection is established and spreads from cell to cell within an experimental cell culture. I will introduce the model we use, describe the experiments that constrain the model's parameters, and use examples from our work on the influenza virus to demonstrate the type of insights this framework makes possible. I will talk about the process by which viruses lose their ability to infect cells, the methods for counting the number of infectious viruses in a sample, and discuss open questions in virology that experimental physicists could help address. If time permits, I'll show some of our back-of-the-envelope work on COVID-19 showcasing the power of the straight line!