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CHIMERA seminar: Interdisciplinary research in network physiology: Lessons from hypoxia

29 June 2022, 3:00 pm–4:00 pm

Banner hospital

With Drs Watjana (Waty) Lilaonitkul and Alireza Mani

This event is free.

Event Information

Open to

All

Availability

Yes

Cost

Free

Organiser

CHIMERA

Location

Zoom webinar
Online
Online
Online

Abstract

A network approach in physiology represents a shift from a reductionist approach and reveals the functional interactions between different components of physiological systems. This approach evaluates the degree of information transfer between organ systems rather than evaluating each physiological process separately. Network Physiology has potential to provide solutions to unsolved questions in medicine such as the mechanism of multiple organ failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome. While the aims of Network Physiology are well defined, development of tools to quantify functional interaction of organs requires an interdisciplinary collaboration of scientists and mathematicians. Methods that have previously been developed for assessment of physical systems and telecommunication (e.g. entropy and information theory) are being used in analysis of physiological interactions. In this talk we will discuss the application of a network approach in evaluating physiological response to hypoxia in health and disease (e.g. COPD, sepsis and mountain sickness). Network analysis of organ systems require collaboration across disciplines and may provide insight in developing novel assessment tools and pave the way for addressing better ways to prevent and treat complex multifactorial disorders. 

About the Speakers

Waty Lilaonitkul

UKRI Fellow at UCL Institute of Health Informatics

Waty is a UKRI fellow at the Institute of Health Informatics at UCL. After receiving her PhD in Electrical Engineering from MIT, she began her career at Goldman Sachs as a derivative structurer where she specialised in dynamic time modelling over large financial data sets. She returned to academia on the UKRI fellowship in 2018 and is currently collaborating with clinicians at Moorfields Eye Hospital, UCLH and GOSH to build computational pipelines aimed at assisting dynamic medical workflows across different diseases. To date, her algorithmic pipelines have been supported by UCLB in 3 patent filings. 

Alireza Mani

Associate Professor at UCL Division of Medicine

Alireza is an Associate Professor at UCL. He enjoys working on interdisciplinary projects both as a researcher and teacher. His main area of interest is understanding the complexity of physiological control in critical illnesses, and he has had success in combining mathematical modelling and clinical medicine in his research. Alireza studied Medicine at Tehran University and moved to UCL through a Wellcome Trust fellowship. His previous appointments were Assistant Professor of Physiology at Tarbiat Modares University and Visiting Professor at the University of Padua.