Séminaire Doctorants
organisé par l'équipe DOCT
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Sophie Baland
A branching model for telomere length dynamics in blood cells.
19 février 2026 - 16:30Salle de séminaires IRMA
In the fields of biology and medicine, mathematical modeling of cell development remains a key area of study.
In this presentation, we will focus on telomeres: small structures located at the ends of eukaryotic chromosomes that act as protective caps to preserve the integrity of the genome.
In the first part, I will discuss the structure and functions of telomeres, their role in the aging process, and in diseases resulting from changes in their length, which is a determining factor in their proper functioning. In addition, I will briefly present two biological mechanisms: the process of DNA replication and hematopoiesis, which is the process of blood cell production, in order to introduce the concepts necessary for understanding a model describing the dynamics of telomere length.
In the second part, I will introduce a branching model that will help us understand the mechanism of hematopoiesis and reproduces cellular behavior during cell divisions, taking into account the length of their telomeres. This is a stochastic model of the evolution of a population of cells and their chromosomes, involving several factors such as telomere attrition, the action of telomerase, and the phenomena of self-renewal, differentiation, and cell death.
I will then present a result, called the law of large numbers, related to the behavior of the model in large populations, as well as the main steps of the proof.