Math Modeling Seminar - Understanding Immune Responses Through Quantitative Approaches

Understanding the Orchestration of Immune Responses Through Quantitative Approaches

Dr. Morgan Craig
Assistant Professor
Department of Mathematics and Statistics
Université de Montréal
Researcher, Research Centre of the Sainte-Justine University Hospital

Zoom Registration Link

Abstract:
An efficient and effective immune system is critical to good health. For this, both local and long-distance signalling are necessary for communication amongst cells. Cytokines are small proteins expressed by blood cells and other key organs that act to up- or down-regulate key processes within the immune system. The sheer number of cell/cytokine interactions complicates our ability to understand, at a broad scale, the totality of relationships within the immune system, and the pathophysiology of acute and chronic immune disorders. A central challenge is translating observational understanding (patient symptoms, measurements of biomarkers etc.) to the mechanistic and causal. To begin to unravel the complexity of immune responses, we applied a collection of novel quantitative techniques and models to a variety of diseases, including a rare blood disorder called cyclic thrombocytopenia and COVID-19. Our results help to rectify the transmission of signals in the immune system both cell-to-cell and distally, refining our understanding of how immune responses are mounted. This is helpful pre-clinically and clinically for designing improved therapies and novel diagnostic tools, and establishing effective therapeutic schedules to help treat disease.

Speaker Bio:
Dr. Morgan Craig is a Researcher at the Research Centre of the Sainte-Justine University Hospital Centre and an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Montréal. She received her Ph.D. in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Montréal and was recruited from the Department of Organismic and Evolutionary Biology at Harvard University where she did her postdoc. Her Quantitative and Translational Medicine Laboratory focuses on the application and implementation of quantitative approaches, particularly computational biology, to study biologically-relevant questions of large medical importance, particularly the optimization of treatment strategies for a variety of diseases. Current projects include understanding pre-leukemic hematopoietic stem cell dynamics, PBPK/PD models of antiretroviral drugs to support the design of a novel sustained-release delivery device for improved HIV treatment design and HIV cure strategies, unravelling immunological networks during rare diseases, and quantifying the impact of heterogeneity in glioblastoma, melanoma, and non-small cell lung cancer tumours on resistance pathways and immunotherapeutic success. Dr. Craig’s research is highly multidisciplinary and is conducted in close collaboration with experimentalists and clinicians.

Intended Audience:
Undergraduates, graduates, and experts. Those with interest in the topic.

The Math Modeling Seminar will recur each week throughout the semester on the same day and time. Find out more about upcoming speakers on the Mathematical Modeling Seminar Series webpage.