Example Research Project 1: Drug Dissolution Modelling
The origins of this project lie in an EU FP4-funded project in collaboration with TCD and Elan
Corporation to model drug dissolution in vitro. This work was continued, funded under the
Biocomputing Strand of the National Institute for Cellular Biotechnology under PRTLI 3, to demonstrate
the application of probabilistic and semi-analytical methods to in vitro drug dissolution for a wider
variety of drug delivery devices and conditions. Further funding has been secured to extend the model
to the design of Therapeutic Implants. DCU’s role is to simulate dissolution and cellular ingress in the
implant, with resulting changes in implant mechanical properties, offering possibilities for micro level
targeted treatment. With the introduction of Bayesian Inference, direct and inverse Monte Carlo and
other probabilistic numerical methods, we believe that the results show enormous potential for the
simulation of in vivo targeted drug delivery simulation, a ‘holy grail’ of drug development and
something that would be of potentially huge potential to the Pharmaceutical Industry.
Example Research Project 2: Immune Response Modelling
The aim of this project on modelling immune response to viral invasion, specifically Human Acquired
Immuno-Deficiency Syndrome (associated with HIV infection), is to explore the population dynamics
for different cell types, based on what is understood or conjectured about cellular mechanisms. Intraand
inter-cellular interactions are investigated in detail, to explore cell survival characteristics and to
quantify the influence of additional cell types on disease progression. The viability of adapting some
of these ideas to modelling features of other immuno-suppressive disorders is also the subject of
exploration. At present there are three project strands in Immune Response Modelling:
(All of which are supported by IRCSET EMBARK Scholarships)