ICTS

In this program, we will discuss current challenges and recent advances in Health and Disease. The aim of the program is to explore different mathematical, statistical and computational approaches to integrate experimental and clinical data, and to discuss how mathematical modeling can help to interpret and integrate experimental data, frame and test hypotheses, and suggest novel experiments allowing for more conclusive and quantitative interpretations of biological, immunological and disease-related processes. Among others, the following problems will be addressed in this program:

1. The analysis of disease-related processes occurring across different scales: from the genetic, to the cellular, host and population levels.
2. At the cellular level, the mechanisms by which cells regulate proliferation, death, differentiation, in childhood, adulthood and old age, and how receptor-mediated signaling and intra-cellular receptor trafficking correlate with cellular fate.
3. The mechanisms that can affect, by maintaining or avoiding, pathogen diversity, from mutation and genetic drift to antibiotic consumption and selective pressure.
4. The effect of co-infection in pathogen evolution, and the interplay between the immune response and antimicrobial resistance.
5. New approaches for incorporating existing individual heterogeneities at the population level into mathematical and computational models.
6. The need for incorporating host immunity and the immune response into mathematical models for the spread of infectious diseases at the population level, as well as recent attempts to incorporate human behavior into these models.
7. The applicability of Bayesian statistical techniques as a powerful tool for linking stochastic (or deterministic) mathematical and computational models with clinical or experimental data.

Eligibility criteria: Any researcher (PhD student/postdoc/faculty) interested in the mathematical/ computational modelling in Health & Disease is welcome to attend the discussion meeting (01-06 July), and to potentially contribute to the programme with a contributed talk or a poster. PhD students/postdocs and early career researchers are also welcome to attend the workshop (08-11 July), where a number of training/tutorial sessions in the field will be offered.

This program is also partially supported by The University of Leeds (UOL) and Medical Research Council (MRC).