In the past decade, there has been an explosive growth in the application of algorithmic approaches to almost all aspects of life, bringing unprecedented levels of insight and capabilities to areas that had previously been beyond the reach of quantitative analysis and prediction. At the same time, novel therapeutic advances in regenerative medicine have been realised using cell or material-based approaches to restore tissue integrity and regenerate biological functions. Realising the full potential of these therapeutic advances now requires challenges in patient specific needs and outcome control to be addressed.

The new interdisciplinary network, which brings together experts from across the departments of the University of Oxford, the Berlin universities and research institutes, as well as external partners from the Universities of Birmingham and Keele, is led jointly by the Mathematical Institute (University of Oxford) and the Berlin Center for Regenerative Therapies with the Julius Wolff Institute (Charité).

This network will address therapeutic challenges that exist in patients compromised by multiple factors that substantially alter the body’s regeneration processes. It aims at understanding how these alterations affect individual healing cascades. Using mathematical modelling and novel quantitative approaches, the researchers want to develop new strategies towards rapidly translating basic biological principles into clinical daily practice while accounting for the patient specific needs and requirements. Through a combination of workshops and mathematics-in-regenerative medicine study groups, the researchers involved will develop a joint research program to unravel underlying mechanisms and enhance the predictive quality of pre- and early clinical analyses needed for the upscaling of treatments to diverse patient populations.

Applicants: Prof. Sarah Waters (University of Oxford), Prof. Dr.-Ing. Georg Duda (Charité), and other partners at Charité, Freie Universität, and Zuse Institute Berlin (ZIB)