The Virtual Human Simulator:
Computer-aided Exploration of Human Biology

Professor Andreas Linninger
Laboratory for Product and Process Design
University of Illinois at Chicago

1:00pm Friday, 13 April 2012, 227 ITE, UMBC

Engineering has substantially impacted the world by creating material wealth through design of chemical production plants, synthesis of specialty chemicals and pharmaceuticals and sustainable processes for energy and the environment. Systematic engineering methods are also driving a transformation in biomedicine. We will present developments in advanced scientific computing for discovering the fundamental transport and reaction mechanisms in biological systems.

Novel medical imaging modalities open unprecedented views into organ function and cellular chemistry of whole organisms in vivo. The quantitative investigation of spatio-temporal reaction and transport phenomena opens a path for the rational design of drug delivery therapies to specific target areas of the human central nervous system. Image-based computational fluid dynamics (iCFD) will be introduced as a new methodology integrating medical imaging modalities with rigorous transport principles. System dynamics and control theory are centerpieces in the prediction of cerebral hemodynamics towards better treatment options for stroke. Non-linear mathematical programming techniques developed by chemical engineers for large scale process optimization are key to parameter estimation in pharmacokinetic and toxicity studies as well as novel techniques for design optimization of gene therapies. The integration of transport and reaction phenomena with anatomical and physiologically consistent computer models spanning the molecular, cellular through the macroscopic length scales lead us to progressively accurate predictions of metabolic functions in the normal and pathological conditions. Prototype developments of the virtual human simulator to engineer design solution in-silico will be demonstrated. Case studies will illustrate the state-of-the-art in computing cerebral blood flow patterns, computer-aided design of drug administration therapies and physiologically-based pharmacokinetic modeling for new drug leads.

Dr. Andreas A. Linninger is Professor of Chemical Engineering and Bioengineering and Director of the Laboratory for Product and Process Design at the University of Illinois in Chicago. He received Diploma and PhD degrees in Chemical Engineering from the Vienna University of Technology. He received postgraduate training at the Rijksuniversiteit Gent, the University of California at Berkeley and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. His research interests in process system engineering include computer-aided process synthesis, mathematical modeling of complex systems and design under uncertainty. He has published more than 100 papers on parameter estimation in distributed systems, synthesis of distillative separation networks, integrated design and control, process design for the environment and computational fluid mechanics methods in biological systems.

Host: Yelena Yesha

Curious what all the buzz is about doing undergraduate research?

Interested in learning more about the process?

Stop by URCAD and see what other students have been doing in their undergraduate research projects. More nutrituous than pizza!

All CWIT Affiliates are invited to the annual end of year picnic sponsored by the CWIT Affiliates Program and the CWIT Parents organization (PWIT). This year's picnic will feature food from QDoba, games, and a chance to meet up with other Affiliates, Scholars, and CWIT alumni. FREE, all Affiliates are welcome! Just RSVP by hitting the green "I can attend" button on the event page below.

UMBC will host three events as part of the CRA-W Distinguished Lecture Series on Monday, 16 April 2012. CRA-W, the Computer Research Association's Committee on the Status of Women in Computing Research, is an action-oriented organization dedicated to increasing the number of women participating in Computer Science and Engineering research and education at all levels.

The visiting speaker is Dr. Ellen Zegura, Professor and Chair of
the School of Computer Science, Georgia Tech.  Dr. Jeff Forbes
of NSF and Duke University will also be on campus as part of
the Distinguished Lecture Series to participate on a panel about
grad school (aimed at graduate students and undergraduates).
The events are open to the public and UMBC visitors are welcome
to attend.

PANEL DISCUSSION: GRADUATE SCHOOL: BEFORE, DURING, AND AFTER
10:00-11:00am, Monday 16 April, 2012, UC 310
Dr. Ellen Zegura, Georgia Tech
Dr. Jeffrey Forbes, National Science Foundation
Mr. James MacGlashan (UMBC CSEE Ph.D. Candidate)
Ms. Alyson Young (UMBC HCC Ph.D. student)

COMPUTING IN CIRRUS CLOUDS: THE CHALLENGE OF INTERMITTENT CONNECTIVITY
Ellen Zegura, Georgia Tech
1:00-2:00pm, Monday 16 April 2012, ITE 325B

COMPUTING FOR GOOD: EXPERIENCES IN HUMANITARIAN COMPUTING
Ellen Zegura, Georgia Tech
4:00-5:00pm, Monday 16 April, 2012, Albin O. Kuhn Library Gallery

Details of these events can be found at http://csee.umbc.edu/talks and
in the attached flyer.

These events are jointly sponsored by CRA-W, UMBC’s Center for Women in
Technology (CWIT), CSEE and IS Departments, and the Graduate School.

We encourage you to attend these events.

Yun Peng and Marie desJardins
Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering
University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)

Galatians 2:20 (NIV)

²⁰I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)

¹⁷Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!

Reflection

The goal of genetic studies is to tell us what our DNA has programmed us to be and to do, in other words what the outcome is. Some outcomes are more visible and obvious such as whether we are male or female, or what color hair and eyes we have. Other outcomes are more subtle, affecting what habits we form, and making us prone to sin in certain ways. Maybe we’re more defensive, easily angered, or quick to judge. We might want to say “that’s who I am” or even that my DNA said so and that’s my outcome. But what these verses say is that in Christ, our outcome has completely changed. In some sense, we have new DNA, where our program is in Christ and our outcome is the newness in Christ. Our old sinful way of living has been crucified with Christ.

Responding to the Transmission

In Christ, our lives are not stuck. If we feel like we have certain sins repeating in our lives as if we’ve been programmed that way, may we declare today that the old is gone and the new has come. Christ loved us and gave Himself for us through the cross, and we can now live in incredible freedom. Let’s pray and believe that our old sinful way of living has been crucified with Christ, and we are new creations who live by faith in the Son of God.