Hi....Hopefully every thing will be fine I need some guidelines about How to develop a new mathematical disease model? Anybody wants to start research collaboration on this topic?
Developing a mathematical disease model involves creating a mathematical representation of how a disease spreads within a population. The goal is to understand the dynamics of the disease's transmission, predict its progression, and evaluate the impact of various interventions. Here's a general outline of the steps involved in developing a mathematical disease model:
Define the Scope and Purpose:Clearly define the disease you want to model and the population you're interested in (e.g., a specific region, age group, etc.). Decide on the objectives of the model, such as predicting disease spread, assessing intervention strategies, or estimating the potential impact of vaccination.
Choose a Model Type:There are several types of mathematical disease models, including compartmental models (e.g., SIR, SEIR), network models, agent-based models, and more. Choose the one that best suits your objectives and available data.
Identify Parameters:Parameters describe the characteristics of the disease and how it spreads. Examples include the transmission rate, incubation period, recovery rate, and mortality rate. Gather data or research relevant literature to estimate these parameters. If data is scarce, you might need to make assumptions or perform sensitivity analyses.
Construct Equations:For compartmental models like the SIR model, you'll use differential equations to describe the flow of individuals between compartments (e.g., susceptible, infected, recovered). For agent-based models, you'll define rules for how individuals interact and move through the model.
Implement the Model:If using a programming language, such as Python or R, write code that implements the equations or rules you've constructed. Ensure the model can simulate the disease's progression over time.
Initialization:Set initial conditions, such as the number of susceptible, infected, and recovered individuals at the start of the simulation.
Simulation:Run the model over time to simulate the disease's spread. Update the compartments or agents according to the equations or rules you've defined.
Validation and Calibration:Validate the model's behavior against historical data or real-world observations. If the model doesn't match reality, adjust parameters or equations accordingly.
Sensitivity Analysis:Test how sensitive your model's outcomes are to changes in input parameters. This helps identify parameters that have the most influence on results.
Scenario Analysis:Use the model to explore different scenarios, such as the impact of various interventions (e.g., social distancing, vaccination) on disease spread.
Interpretation and Communication:Interpret the results of your simulations and draw conclusions about the disease's dynamics and potential outcomes. Communicate your findings clearly to stakeholders, policymakers, or the broader public.
Iterate and Improve:Disease models are simplifications of complex reality and may need refinement as more data becomes available or as the situation changes.
Remember that developing an accurate disease model requires a combination of domain knowledge, data collection, mathematical skills, and programming expertise. Collaboration with experts in epidemiology, statistics, and related fields can greatly enhance the quality and reliability of your model.
Other than that, I'm quite in line with Aziz's answer.
First, determine which type of model you want to construct, because on that decision, your entire approach will depend.
Is it a machine learning model? Then you are interested in data (even more than in other approaches) and correlations. Is it a mechanistic model (for instance differential equations)? Then you need to understand the biology/immunology behind very well? Is it more of a deterministic or a stochastic model you are interested? etc....
Once you construct your model, you have to feed your model with data, this is called "calibration" of your model, to reproduce a certain outcome. If you want to qualify you model for predictions, you need additionally to perform "validation", with an independent dataset.
To develop a Mathematical disease Model, you must first study the etiology of the disease you want to model. Furthermore, with the help of Mathematical Modeling technique(s) and the peculiarity of the disease in question, you draw a flow diagram representing the dynamics of the disease. From the flow diagram, the equations of the Model will emerge.
The field of mathematical biology is a dynamic area of research. Similar to mathematical physics, an understanding of the underlying science is required to develop the applicable mathematics. There are many areas of interest in mathematical biology, but the one is most appropriate to your interest in disease modeling relies heavily on the mathematics of dynamical systems both finite and infinite dimensional, linear and non linear.
The Lotka-Volterra equations describing the predatory dates back to the early 1900's and are a classic example. However, the evolution of this model gives a prototype for developing and analyzing biological dynamics.
The Lotka-Volterra model is an example of the more general Kolmogorov models that describes the evolution of continuous Markov processes (a.k.a. diffusion processes) which describe the underlying probabilistic behavior of such systems.
With these things in mind, Professor Kahn's outline of the steps involved provided a good roadmap on how to precede. However, first if not familiar with the rich application of dynamical systems to predator-prey, interactions and/or population control. There are plenty of books available on dynamical systems applied to biology available.
This is a really interesting and challenging question. The previous answers on this thread provided a good outline of the overall approach. In a recent work, I dod my best to outline what I and others have done to tackle this exact question. You can take a look at: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0304380023001539