Mathematical modelling of macromolecular capillary permeability  

Project description

The primary function of blood vessels is to transport molecules to tissues. In diseases such as cancer and diabetes this transport, particularly of large molecules such as albumin, can be an order of magnitude higher than normal.

The project is to model transient flow of macromolecules across the vascular wall in physiology and pathology. With additional supervision from Dr Kenton Arkill and Professor David Bates (Medicine), the doctoral student will join a team that includes medical researchers, biophysicists and mathematicians acquiring structural and functional data.

Detailed microscale models of vascular wall hydrodynamics and transport properties will be employed; in addition, powerful multiscale homogenisation techniques will be exploited that enable permeability and convection parameters on the nanoscale to be linked through the microscale into translatable information on the tissue scale.  Computational simulations will be used to investigate and understand the model behaviour, including, for example, stochastic and multiphysics effects in the complex diffusion-convection nanoscale environment. The project will afford a great opportunity to form an information triangle where modelling outcomes will determine physiological experiments to feedback to the model. Furthermore, the primary results will inform medical researchers on potential molecular therapeutic targets.