computational science and engineering; applied mathematics; mathematical biology; multiscale modeling; physiology; pharmacology; toxicology; kidney; bone; cancer; lung; pharmacokinetics; immunotherapy; drug delivery; tissue damage; porous materials; extracellular matrix; kinetics; transport; numerical methods
Dr. Ford Versypt leads the Systems Biomedicine and Pharmaceutics Laboratory. The long-term goal for her research program is to develop multiscale mathematical and computational models to enhance understanding of the mechanisms governing tissue remodeling and damage as a result of diseases and infections and to simulate the treatment of those conditions to improve human health. The Systems Biomedicine and Pharmaceutics Laboratory specializes in modeling kinetics and transport processes involved in biological and chemical interactions related to both physiological microenvironments and engineered biomedical and pharmaceutical systems, particularly those involved in tissue damage and treatment. Her research program is funded by the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. Most of the projects in the lab involve building continuous PDE or ODE-based mathematical models and/or discrete agent-based computational models a) for transport of biochemicals through heterogeneous porous materials—primarily extracellular matrices—that change morphology dynamically due to the influence of chemical reactions and b) for dynamic, complex biological systems involving chemical, physical, and biological interactions of diverse, heterogeneous cell populations with these materials and the chemical species in tissue microenvironments.