Leveraging computational modeling to understand biomedical diseases

 Speaker: Wenrui Hao (Pennsylvania State University)

In this talk, I will explore the use of computational and mathematical modeling as critical tools in understanding and predicting the progression of biomedical diseases. I will present two recently developed modeling approaches, pathophysiology-driven modeling and data-driven modeling, and provide examples of each. For pathophysiology-driven modeling, I will introduce a mathematical model of atherosclerosis and discuss how it provides a personalized cardiovascular risk by solving a free boundary problem. This model also presents some interesting mathematical challenges that can deepen our understanding of cardiovascular risk. For data-driven modeling, I will use Alzheimer's disease as an example to illustrate the idea of learning a mathematical model from clinical data when the pathophysiology of a disease is not well understood. I will also discuss how this approach has been applied to personalized treatment studies of the recently FDA-approved Alzheimer's medication, aducanumab.
 

Time: March 3, 2023 2:30pm-3:30pm
Location: LeConte 440
Host: Yi Sun