Job Order Detail

Description

Dr. Gordon Broderick, Principal Investigator, Mathematical Immunology and Immunodynamics (MII) Group is seeking a highly motivated individual with an interest in the mathematical modelling of biological regulatory network dynamics at the molecular and cellular levels. Research components include network assembly from prior knowledge (text and schema) and available experimental data, large-scale combinatorial optimization for parameter estimation and attractor mapping, as well as multi-scale dynamic simulation, all with an emphasis on massively distributed computing and the design of quantum algorithms. Among the many applications, these simulation models will initially be used to understand immune regulatory programs acquired in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and conferring increased susceptibility to infection, as well as anomalies in immune maturation in neonates and young children leading to ineffective response to childhood vaccines. Ongoing work will also involve the investigation of self-sustaining regulatory programs supporting persistent illness in Long-COVID.

As part of a larger computational and systems biology initiative at VIDO, the groups research is focused on the development of analytical approaches rooted in information theory, and formal dynamic systems theory, and their use in deciphering the complex regulatory programming that coordinates the joint immune, nervous and endocrine system responses to infection. Large-scale computer simulations of these regulatory dynamics are then used to identify novel vaccine formulations as well as design strategies to broaden response in the general population, better target vulnerable populations and improve outcomes from infection.

VIDO offers a unique transdisciplinary research environment at the intersection of the basic life sciences and physical sciences with the MII Group focused increasingly on the use of quantum algorithms through its membership in the University of Saskatchewan.