Team:Baltimore BioCrew/Model
Math Modeling
Overview
With the goal of our project being to increase serotonin levels in the brain, we found it best fit to model the growth of Lactobacillus, a health promoting bacteria that is found in the gut and in probiotic tablets. We modeled this growth using one of the many forms of the Gompertz Model and fit the model to the data collected in our in-lab experiments. We performed a least-squares regression to select parameters from this data to optimize the fit of the Gompertz Model to our data. We hope to use this model as a baseline that can be compared to the growth of transformed Lactobacillus and analyze if the transformation has any effect on the growth of the Lactobacilli.
Modeling Lactobacillus Growth
Limitations to Our Approach and Next Steps
One of our limitations included the fact that we assumed our growth conditions are mimicking the conditions of the gut which may not be the case. In the gut we believe there will be a constant supply of resources, but in the lab there are limited resources. In the future, the bacteria can continuously be given fresh media, as if feeding a pet, so that the bacteria is constantly being supplied. Ultimately, the conditions of the gut can not be predicted without in vivo testing which is considered to be a major limitation that has been taken into deep consideration throughout the modeling process. Additionally, we take into account human error in the lab which includes contamination of the Lactobacillus and inconsistent timing for the collection of data. Lastly, due to COVID-19 and the pandemic, long term collection of data has not been an option. Good data on how the Lactobacillus would behave after 4 or 5 days is not provided since the data we do have ends after 4 hours. In the future, when COVID-19 isn't much of a restriction, data could be collected on a daily basis to achieve a longer timeline of the growth of Lactobacillus. This can be better compared to transformed Lactobacillus.