European Conference on Mathematical and Theoretical Biology (ECMTB 2026)

A New Paradigm for the Mathematical Modelling of Multiple Sclerosis

MS11-07

13 Jul 2026, 17:40

20m

15.12 - HS (University of Graz)

Minisymposium Talk Neuroscience and Neural Systems Immune attack on the nervous system: mathematical models of multiple sclerosis

Speakers

Adrianne Jenner (Queensland University of Technology) Thomas Hillen (University of Alberta)

Description

The mathematical modelling of MS so far has focussed on a few aspects of the disease, but an overall modelling framework is missing. Here we propose a paradigm for the mathematical modelling of MS. Based on biological principles we propose six consecutive modelling levels. We develop models on Level 1,2, and 3, and test if these models can describe known effects related to MS. We first show that periodic disease outbreaks are possible in this framework. We show that presence of Epstein-Barr virus infections can initiate the disease, low levels of estrogen and vitamin D can alleviate it, mutations in the HLA-DR gene can promote MS, and we find that memory B-cells play a dominant role in the disease progression.