The MODEST project

The European Research Council announced on March 12, 2015 that a Consolidator Grant 2014 will be awarded to Sebastian Sager. See also this press release of the University. There are grant related articles on a popular science level: in the Festschrift 50 years mathematics in Magdeburg 2015 (page 43) and in the Ruperto Carola research magazine 11/2013 (page 110).

The isitFlutter project

On July 4, 2016, the ERC announced that a Proof of Consolidator Grant 2016 will be awarded to Sebastian. The host institution of this grant is the spin-off company mathe.medical GmbH. See this page for more details.

A good overview of research directions and results in the intersection between optimization and clinical decision support is given in this Optima article.

Participation in studies

If you participate in a study within one of the two ERC Grant actions, please visit this page for details on compliance with ethical requirements, informed consent, data protection and security issues, and information on how to withdraw consent.

Abstract

Physicians need to make many important decisions per day. One clinical example is the scheduling and dosage of chemotherapy treatments. A second example is the discrimination of atrial fibrillation from atypical atrial flutter, based on ECG data. Such important and complex decisions are usually based on expert knowledge, accumulated throughout the life of a physician and shaped by subjective (and sometimes unconscious) experience. It is not readily transferable and may be unavailable in rural areas. At the same time, the available imaging, laboratory, and basic clinical data is abundant and waits to be used. This data is not yet systematically integrated and often single data-points are used to make therapy decisions.

Scheme of the MODEST project

The main objective of the Consolidator Grant MODEST project is to develop prototypical mathematical models and the (more generally applicable) algorithms that are necessary to make use of this data. For details on the mathematical part compare also our general research profile. The main objective of the Proof-of-Concept Grant isitFlutter is to evaluate the possibility to transfer and commercially disseminate the innovative mathematical ideas into clinical practice for the particular case of diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmia.

Subprojects

• Optimization-based diagnosis of cardiac arrhythmia
• Optimization-based search of ablation points for extrasystoles
• Modeling, simulation, and optimization of chemotherapy treatment for acute myeloid leukemia
• Modeling, simulation, and optimization of chemotherapy treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukemia
• Modeling, simulation, and optimization of treatments for polycythaemia vera
• Optimization-based clinical training

For further information there is a list of relevant publications and links to team members.