Multiscale integrative modelling of airway mechanobiology in asthma.

Dr Bindi Brook (University of Nottingham)

Thursday 11th May, 2017 14:00-15:00 Wolfson Medical School Seminar Room 1

Abstract

(Lunch with the speaker will be at One A The Square, leaving from the school front foyer at 12.45.)

Asthma is characterised by inflammation, airway hyper-responsiveness (rapid and excessive airway smooth muscle (ASM) contraction to low doses of contractile agent) and airway remodelling (involving long-term structural changes to the epithelium, collagenous basement membrane and ASM bundles). The mechanisms underlying these characteristics and how they interact is not well-understood. In this talk I will describe the multiscale models that we have developed, that capture ASM force generation and modulation in a dynamic environment at the cellular scale and its effect on tissue-level processes such as broncho-constriction/dilation of whole airways. Additionally I will illustrate how we are coupling these models to morphoelastic models of inflammation-driven airway remodelling, informed by experimental data, to understand the influence of remodelling on hyper-responsiveness and vice versa. These models have been developed in close collaboration with experimental biologists and respiratory clinicians with the ultimate aim of developing novel therapies driven by improved understanding of the underlying mechanobiology.

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