SPS Seminar - Understanding cardiovascular systems and diseases using statistical physics

When:  Thursday 17^th March at 14.00

Where:  Microsoft Teams - Online

Speaker:  Jim Hague (OU)

Hosted by: Andrew James

Abstract:

I will discuss my ongoing work on modelling embolic strokes using methods of statistical physics, particularly Monte Carlo techniques. Emboli are blood clots, plaque or bubbles that can cause blockages. If these blockages occur within the brain, a stroke or ischemic attack can be caused due to a lack of oxygen to the tissue (which eventually causes a lesion). I will describe the important of blockage / flow interactions on the models. I will then talk about methods for growing vasculatures in-silico (which are based on simulated annealling methods, which are closely related to Monte Carlo methods). Finally, I will show how such computer-generated vasculatures can be used to augment Monte Carlo stroke models, leading to direct comparisons with imaging. I conclude by proposing a simple equation relating embolus and lesion sizes from an in-silico trial.