health

The development of new biomedical imaging techniques has resulted in significantly better tools for doctors and scientists to image humans and animals in-vivo. Technological developments and new types of imagers with more capabilities are revolutionizing the field. Currently, available technologies for brain imaging include Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), functional MRI, Diffuse Optical Tomography (DOT), Electro-Encephalography (EEG) and Magneto-Encephalography.

Diseases such as diabetes, Alzheimer's, HIV and blood disorders present challenges to our society, our healthcare and our basic scientific understanding of physiological processes within the human body. Mathematical modelling can be used to help scientists decipher the processes at work in these complex diseases at a molecular, cellular and organ level. Recently, research team members examined the ways in which drugs such as Filgrastim could be used to replenish levels of white blood cells, a common challenge following chemotherapy.

When patients do not use medications as prescribed, the drugs may lose the ability to treat the disease. However, the impact of variations in patient use is not generally studied during clinical trials. By identifying the reasons for patient non-compliance and individual patient modifications, the team will determine the impact that poor compliance or dosing regimen adjustments have on therapeutic failure. A quantitative analysis of this impact will be developed. Initially, the team will focus on oral chemotherapy where concerns about compliance have become an important issue.

The goal of the MITACS-funded research program on reverse-engineering cellular complexity is to develop new mathematical tools and algorithms for analyzing genetic switching networks. Many genes operate as switches and are turned on and off, like light bulbs, when needed. Understanding the regulatory circuits that control this switching behaviour would improve our ability to modulate gene activity, provide clues to fundamental biological design principles, and lead to better synthetic circuits for biotechnological applications.