Time: Wednesday 2nd September at 11.15am
Place: Rikshospitalet, room A3.3067
Neurodegenerative diseases are among the most difficult conditions to study and analyze. For example, the causes of Alzheimer’s Disease and Parkinson’s Disease are unknown; they are hard to study in-vivo, and animal model and in-vitro studies are constrained by the complexity of the conditions and their apparent uniqueness to the human animal. Given these points, we claim that an in-silico systems approach, based upon mathematical modelling and control systems analysis, offers a valuable new framework for studying the complexities of these poorly understood diseases. Taking idiopathic Parkinson’s Disease (iPD) as the example, the talk will illustrate how the concept of a systems approach, originally developed for analysis of complex technological systems, can be used to build a systematic framework for disease study. The framework provides both an objective collection point for knowledge of the disease, and an analysis tool with which we can study the bio-dynamics and interactions that are potentially involved in disease causation.
Our systems approach is based upon a mathematical modelling of the process that allows the mind to function – namely the brain energy metabolism. A properly calibrated brain energy metabolism model is used as a core tool for analysis. This core can be built upon by attaching models of cellular sub-systems thought to involved in iPD causation. The potential role of these subsystems in iPD can then be examined by analysing their implications in-silico, together with the impact of weaknesses in the energy metabolism that supports them. In this way, the mathematical model provides an in-silico platform for disease study that: - Complements practical experiments,
- Provides a quantitative, impartial repository of biological knowledge, and
- Forms a systems tool for the integrative analysis of possible disease mechanisms – including flaws in brain energy metabolism itself.
