(285g) Invited: Bridging from Protein-to-Tissue with Multiscale Computational Models

The most prevalent, devastating, and complex diseases of our time, such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and infectious diseases, involve the interactions of heterogeneous cells with one another and with their changing environment. However, the drugs we typically use to treat these diseases target a single protein (e.g. anti-vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF) for treating diabetic retinopathy) and disregard the fact that cells within tissues are highly heterogeneous and have individualized responses that contribute to the tissue-level outcomes. To bridge the gap between protein and multi-cell/tissue-levels, my lab develops agent-based computational models and uses them in combination with experimental approaches, to predict how individual cell behaviors give rise to tissue-level adaptations. We have used agent-based modeling to simulate the structural adaptations of large and small blood vessels, skeletal muscle regeneration following injury, and immune cell trafficking and differentiation during inflammation and infection. Our studies have suggested new mechanistic hypotheses and provided guidance for the design of novel therapies that account for the dynamic and heterogeneous interactions between different cell types within a diseased tissue.