Martedì 27 ottobre 2026, alle ore 16.30 in aula G (III liv.), il Dott. Andrea Maria Chiariello (Dip. di Fisica “Ettore Pancini” -UNINA) terrà un seminario dal titolo

Viral infections by integrative modelling across scales: from cell nuclei to population dynamics

Abstract: In the last years, an anomalously high spreading of West Nile virus (WNV) has been observed in Italy, with particularly high peaks of infections in southern Lazio, Campania and Veneto regions. The main disease vector for WNV is represented by Culex pipiens mosquitoes, which spread human infections through their bites. Here, I will discuss a computational approach based on a quantum version of the Game of Life (GOL) cellular automaton model, to quantitatively model WNV fever epidemic diffusion during recent summer seasons in Italy. Specifically, human dynamics evolves according to the GOL rules, while stochastic dynamics of disease vectors, i.e., mosquitoes, as well as their interaction with humans, simultaneously occur [1]. On the other hand, at microscopic level, an interesting, so far underexplored property of viruses is the ability to alter the physical mechanisms within host cell nuclei, leading to dysregulation of key genes involved in host response and also exacerbating disease severity. Relevant examples include SARS-CoV-2 and avian influenza A H5N1. I will show how biophysical modelling, combined with Molecular Dynamics simulations and fed with experimental data, represent a powerful tool to quantitatively investigate the biology of viral action on host cells from a new perspective [2,3].

References
1. Fontana, A., Tambascia S. et al. (2026) West Nile virus outbreak in Italy modelled with the quantum Game of Life. arXiv, doi: https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2606.20489
2. Chiariello, A.M., Abraham, A., Bianco et al. (2024) Multiscale modelling of chromatin 4D organization in SARS-CoV-2 infected cells. Nature Communications, 15, 4014.
3. Fontana, A., Bianco, S., et al.  Comparative modelling of large-scale 3D genome re-arrangements in different viral infections. npj, Systems Biology and Applications, doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41540-026-00822-z