The regulation and maintenance of a tissueโs shape and structure is a major outstanding question in developmental biology and plant biology. In this talk, through iterations between experiments and multiscale model simulations that include a mechanistic description of interkinetic nuclear migration, we will show that the local curvature, height, and nuclear positioning of cells in the...
In this talk, we introduce a patient-specific digital twin framework termed COMPASS (COMprehensive Personalized ASsessment System) for adaptive radiotherapy of non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients based on fractional PET/KVCT imaging, radiomics, dosiomics, and biologically equivalent dose (BED) kinetics. Specifically, eight NSCLC patients treated with biology-guided radiotherapy (BGRT)...
Digital twins are emerging as a powerful paradigm for modeling complex biological systems by integrating data-driven and mechanistic approaches. In this talk, we present recent developments in constructing machine learning-enabled digital twins for Alzheimerโs disease (AD), a highly heterogeneous neurodegenerative disorder characterized by diverse biomarker trajectories, progression rates, and...
Tumor progression is shaped by a complex interplay between genomic heterogeneity, biophysical interactions, and the tissue microenvironment. Computational models of tumor growth have historically struggled to incorporate the full richness of patient-specific data โ from genomics and transcriptomics to medical imaging and tissue mechanics. Here, I will present a multi-scale computational...
The maternal brain undergoes significant anatomical change during pregnancy, yet the geometric principles governing these transformations remain poorly understood. Studying brain shape change is critical for identifying markers of maternal health, but prior work focuses on scalar volumes, masking subtle deformation. We develop a digital twin that integrates precision imaging with large...
To form new sprouts during angiogenesis, endothelial cells must coordinate their migration through biophysical and biomechanical signaling between each other and the micro-environment. A relatively simple model of angiogenesis is intersegmental vessel (ISV) formation in zebrafish. While various molecular, cellular, and mechanical factors coordinate ISV pathfinding between the somites, the...
Cardiac action potential (AP) propagation occurs through gap junction (GJ)-rich intercalated discs (IDs). However, recent experimental studies show that GJ knockout mice can still maintain heart structure and function, even when GJs are undetectable at IDs. Ephaptic coupling (EpC), an electric field effect across the narrow, tortuous IDs, provides an alternative mechanism for cell-to-cell...
Building virtual cells and virtual tissues that capture how interacting cell populations evolve in space and time is a central goal of modern biology, yet spatial omics experiments can only provide sparse snapshots of this process. Here, we introduce CytoBridge, a computational method that reconstructs continuous virtual cell dynamics from discrete spatial transcriptomic data. Starting from a...
Mathematical modeling has long played a critical role in advancing our understanding of biological systems and disease processes, spanning scales from molecular interactions to population-level dynamics. These approaches provide a principled framework for uncovering mechanisms, integrating heterogeneous data, and generating predictive insight. Recent advances in computational power,...
