Modelling dementia
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Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s are devastating conditions with poorly understood mechanisms and no known cure. Yet a striking feature of these conditions is the characteristic pattern of invasion throughout the brain, leading to well-codified disease stages visible to neuropathology and associated with various cognitive deficits. In this talk, I will show how we can use mathematical modelling to gain insight into this process and, doing so, gain some understanding on how the brain works. In particular, by looking at protein dynamics on the neuronal network, we can unravel some of the universal features associated with dementia that are driven by both the network topology and protein kinetics. If time permits, I will show that by further coupling this approach with functional models of the brain, we can explain important aspects of function loss during disease development.
Hybrid: Math Building, Room 402 & Zoom: https://arizona.zoom.us/j/89712326534 Passcode: math (all lower case)