Dr Leila Ghanbar
Associate Lecturer (Education) in Computer Science

Summary

I am a Computational Biologist with a background in Microbiology and Biomedical Engineering. I am interested in modelling biological behaviours in silicon in order to understand and predict them. 

I attained my PhD from Brunel University London under the supervision of Professor David Gilbert and Alessandro Pandini. During my PhD, I created a library of models with different levels of complexity in order to portray different biological behaviours such as movement (chemotaxis), communication, response, reproduction and death. These models can be used individually to for simpler behaviours and could be combined for more complex ones. I have also created a detailed model of biofilm formation, a biological response activity to population density, and combined it with a quorum sensing model. All these models were created in Petri nets, simulated in Spike and analysed using R. 

Currently, I am interested in developing new modelling approaches for biological systems. I am looking at novel methods that are simple and yet powerful enough to be efficient and useful in creating models that help with understanding and predicting biological systems. 

Qualifications

• BSc in Microbiology (Cellular and Molecular Biology)
• MSc in Biomedical Engineering (Tissue and Genetic)
• PhD in Computer Science (Computational Biology)