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Máté Szalai

Publications and source records attributed to Máté Szalai.

3 recordsLinked to original sources
arXiv2023

Branching model with state dependent offspring distribution for Chlamydia spread

Chlamydiae are bacteria with an interesting unusual developmental cycle. A single bacterium in its infectious form (elementary body, EB) enters the host cell, where it converts into its dividing form (reticulate body, RB), and divides by binary fission. Since only the EB form is infectious, before the host cell dies, RBs start to convert into EBs. After the host cell dies RBs do not survive. We model the population growth by a 2-type discrete-time branching process, where the probability of duplication depends on the state. Maximizing the EB production leads to a stochastic optimization problem. Simulation study shows that our novel model is able to reproduce the main features of the development of the population.

q-bio.PE↗
arXiv2021

Stochastic modeling of in vitro bactericidal potency

We provide a Galton--Watson model for the growth of a bacterial population in the presence of antibiotics. We assume that bacterial cells either die or duplicate, and the corresponding probabilities depend on the concentration of the antibiotic. Assuming that the mean offspring number is given by $m(c) = 2 / (1 + αc^β)$ for some $α, β$, where $c$ stands for the antibiotic concentration we obtain weakly consistent, asymptotically normal estimator both for $(α, β)$ and for the minimal inhibitory concentration (MIC), a relevant parameter in pharmacology. We apply our method to real data, where \emph{Chlamydia trachomatis} bacteria was treated by azithromycin and ciprofloxacin. For the measurements of \emph{Chlamydia} growth quantitative PCR technique was used. The 2-parameter model fits remarkably well to the biological data.

stat.AP↗