BIOMS Seminar: Asymptotic methods for models of liver metabolism

SPEAKER:  John Ward, Loughborough University (England)

ABSTRACT:

ODE models have been used for decades in pharmacology to simulate drug toxicology. The systems are generally complex and nonlinear and the analysis undertaken is almost exclusively by computation. In this talk, a powerful analytical technique to study such models, known as singular perturbation theory, will be presented.

The talk will begin with an illustrative, simple example of the technique using the classical Michaelis-Menten model for enzymatic reactions. This will be followed with a discussion on a more complicated model for acetaminophen (paracetamol) metabolism. If there is time, an even more complicated model on the metabolism of a drug called Nitisinone will be presented. Despite the complexity of the latter two models, significant insights were able to be drawn from the use of the singular perturbation technique.