The Institute for Computational Medicine is pleased to announce the establishment of a Computational Medicine Core. This new core, supported by NIH funding to the Institute for Clinical and Translational Research, will help faculty across the Johns Hopkins enterprise add computational modeling to their research endeavors.

The Computational Medicine Core was created to support innovative biomedical research programs at Johns Hopkins University. It offers services and consulting for investigators interested in mathematical modeling of complex biological systems in health and disease. Models may be used to achieve quantitative understanding of and to generate hypotheses about disease mechanisms and treatments that can then be tested in the laboratory and/or clinic.

Our goal is to serve as a scientific resource for investigators where bioengineers, computer scientists, and physicists will help physicians and basic scientists develop computational models. We can provide consulting on: selecting the class of models that are most appropriate given the data and scientific questions at hand; guidance on how to formulate and test models; advice on implementation of computational models using different programming languages and environments, hardware considerations, and data visualization methods.

We will work as a consultancy group, offering specific experience in modeling of a variety of biological systems. The personnel consist of the faculty and staff of ICM, with initial consulting provided by Dr. Pawel Kudela. Our model capabilities currently include:

• Computational molecular medicine – Feilim Mac Gabhann, Rachel Karchin, Joel Bader, Donald Geman
• Computational Neuroscience – William S. Anderson, Pawel Kudela, Srideva Sarma
• Computational cell biology and physiological medicine – Raimond L. Winslow
• Cardiac electromechanics modeling – Natalia Trayanova, Fijoy Vadakkumpadan
• Biological fluid dynamics modeling – Rajat Mittal
• Computational Anatomy – Michael Miller, Laurent Younes, Tilak Ratnananther
• Agent based models – Joshua Epstein
• Data modeling and machine learning – Suchi Saria

We accept consultations from investigators throughout the Schools of Medicine and Public Health. Investigators are asked to submit a 1-2 page description of their research to pkudela@jhmi.edu. A series of consultation meetings will then be arranged to outline the programming and research needs and to schedule the project.