Speakers
Description
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic autoimmune disease affecting almost 3 million people worldwide and causing substantial physical and cognitive disability. In MS, dysregulated immune responses target myelin—the protective coating of neurons—leading to neurodegeneration and progressive neurological impairment. There is currently no cure for MS, and existing treatments are only partially effective, often slowing disease progression or alleviating symptoms in only a subset of patients. The increasing incidence of MS, particularly among women, underscores the urgent need for new quantitative approaches to understand its underlying mechanisms.
This minisymposium brings together eight mathematical researchers at the forefront of MS disease modelling to showcase how mathematical and computational methods can provide mechanistic insight into MS pathophysiology. Using a diverse range of approaches, including ordinary and partial differential equations and agent-based models, speakers will demonstrate how mathematics can capture the complex immune dynamics and non-trivial spatial patterns of lesion formation and spread within the brain. With growing interest in mathematical immunology driven by applications in cancer, COVID-19, HIV, and other diseases, this minisymposium aims to foster cross-disciplinary exchange and highlight opportunities for applying and extending these techniques to the modelling of MS.
