Applied Mathematics Seminar

Des and his coworkers in Phamacology have been applying artificial neural networks(ANN), genetic algorithms (GA) and computer based statistical and modelling techniques to a variety of chemical and biomedical problems over the last several years.

Some of their projects will be reviewed, these include a silicon brain for modelling the in vivo kinetics of receptor interacting drugs, a silicon rat for modelling drug biodistribution, ANN models of drug structure - biological activity and kinetics, ANN classification of arthritis from medical images and oesophageal motility disorders from pressure traces. Cellular automata studies on effects of global warming on mosquitoes, and ANN studies improving prediction of fertility in humans receiving artificial reproduction therapies. They are currently expanding into the area of targeting of novel drugs based upon human genomic information.

All of these projects have been multidiciplinary, requiring a mixture of biomedical, computer science and maths knowledge. The pharmacoinformatics group are strong in the biomedical and computer science areas but weaker in the applied maths area and are consequently looking for interested applied mathematicians to join in on some interesting work.

Des Maddalena has worked widely in several fields including chemical analysis, paint technology, food technology, shark physiology, microbiology, drug design and testing, computer science and artificial intelligence. He is currently a part-time lecturer with the Pharmacology Department but runs his own company, AiMaze Pty Ltd, which is involved in industrial consulting using maths modelling and AI technology.