Discrete Modelling and Simulation of Biological Systems. MOSIMBIO

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Strategy

The research group is specifically concerned with three different fields of application: biomedical sciences, food technology and environmental sciences.
 
Each field requires the collaboration with experts in the field, who detect and pose knotty unsolved questions and provide our group with heuristic knowledge and hypothesis to be tested by the models.
 
Real-world observations and experiments are designed in parallel to the building of the models and carried out at the ESAB (Escola Superior d'Agricultura de Barcelona) or at one of the collaboration centers.

BIOMEDICAL SCIENCES

Our present research is focused on tuberculosis, an infectious disease that we are tackling from a multidisciplinary and multiscale perspective. The main research lines in this field are:
  • Natural history of tuberculosis. We are dealing with the modelling of the three-dimensional behavior in the lungs of the latent tuberculosis and the active disease.
  • Epidemiology of tuberculosis. We are studying tuberculosis dynamics at the country and at the city and neighbourhood levels, combining countinuous top-down and discrete bottom-upc approaches.


Our past research in this field was focused on the spreading of the parasite causing malaria in different scenarios:

  • Malaria in vitro cultures. The infection dynamics in  Red blood cell populations infected with Plasmodium falciparum in in vitro cultures are not fully understood. A better understanding of such experimental systems should be useful to improve the current techniques employed by the pharmaceutical industries to develop treatments and vaccines. 
  •  Malaria spreading and treatment strategies. The field actions carried out during the last years for malaria control and eradication in the affected areas has not successfully decreased the burden of the disease. Individual based modeling of the spreading of the epidemics can be helpful to revise and improve the current strategies.


FOOD TECHNOLOGY

The research topics in this ambit comprise different topics on predictive microbiology in foods:
 
  • Study of the lag phase. The lag phase in bacterial growth is one of the most important items in predictive microbiology and food safety. Our simulation studies help to interpret the different microscopic mechanisms that cause it.
  • Growth of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Many processes in food industry are based on the fermentation carried out by yeasts. Their behaviour is not yet fully understood. Our models study the effect of yeast flocculation, and reproduction through buds on the collective performance and on the aging, among others.
Research in this field was carried out in collaboration with the BioTeC group from the Katholique Univerity of Leuven, the Institute of Food Research (Norwich, UK), and we are currently starting collaborations with the IRTA (Institut de Recerca i Tecnologia Agroalimentària de Catalunya, Monells).
 

ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES

The past research topics in this ambit comprised:
 
  • Dynamics of C and N in soil. Soil is a very complex system not yet fully understood. Our simulation models described the evolutions of different pools of C and N in soil and made possible a holistic interpretation of the behaviour of real-world system.
  • Composting process. Composting is central in the agroalimentary industry because it allows the treatment of residues and provides a source of fertilizers. Our models provided a spatially explicit representation of the composting process that should be useful to gain predictive capability.
  • Biological depuration of waste water. The biological depuration of waste water is a complex process that involves many factors (physical, chemical and biological), with a certain structural similarity with the processes occurring in soil and compost. Our simulations built bridges between the available experimental data and the proposed mathematical models by validating, or otherwise rejecting, the modelled mechanisms.
 
Research in this field has been carried out in collaboration with the GIRO (Gestió Integral de Residus Orgànics), the Universitat de Lleida, the Universidad de Vigo and Ros Roca S.A.