Working Groups

In this workshop, we will assemble a group of 20-30 scientists with expertise in immunology, clinical science, and mathematical and computational modeling, to discuss the main challenges facing the development of digital twin technology, determine the most promising immediate application areas, outline a conceptual map of an immune system model appropriate for these application areas, and determine the key data needs to calibrate, validate, and personalize such models.

The workshop Building Immune Digital Twins aims to make immune digital twin technology a reality. Over the course of three weeks, it will bring together researchers from each areas for activities ranging from extended active team work on specific immune digital twin projects to lectures, discussion and working groups, and brainstorming sessions for new projects and applications. Over the course of the program, participants will develop a network of collaborators and experts in all relevant areas of research. The ultimate goal of the workshop is to help create a long-term interdisciplinary immune digital twin community.

Project Objective: Develop specific guidelines for the quantitative biology community to help counter the most dire threats to human health we will face over the course of the next 30 years. These guidelines will be based on an assessment by the diverse communities of domain experts, such as clinicians, population health experts, health-related businesses, and others. They are intended to inform the quantitative biology community, and serve as the basis for blueprints of research initiatives, funding plans, training programs, or simply as a guide for new students and researchers in the quantitative biology field who are developing their own research programs.

Focus and structure of the working group: The community of modelers developing epidemiological and population-scale models is already extensive and well-integrated, in part due to the NIGMS MIDAS program. Within-host modeling of viral pathogens is much more limited. Therefore, the working group will initially focus on within-host scales, in particular the complex interactions between viral infection, host physiology, and the immune system. A main long-term deliverable of the working group will be an overall strategy for a coordinated multi-scale modeling effort which becomes a customizable translational technological platform for rapidly creating improved personalized prognoses and therapies in response to emerging viral pandemics. It will also include a plan on how to mobilize and coordinate the modeling community to support this effort.