Mathematical and computational models, also usually referred to as in silico models, are becoming increasingly useful to aid biological experiments, make quantitative and testable predictions of physiological and pathological conditions. In silico models have being successfully used to generate and test new hypotheses in medicine, to propose new guidelines for disease diagnosis and progression monitoring, as well as for pre-treatment planning by incorporating pertinent anatomical and functional data.

In this talk, I will outline the research work of my group in in silico modelling of cancer and cardiovascular related problems. We have been developing multiscale models that span from the cell-scale to extracellular matrix mechanobiology and from soft tissue to organ-scale biomechanics, macro- to micro-biofluid flow mechanics, coupled problems of avascular or/and vascularised tumour growth and angiogenesis, and the transport of drugs and nanomedicines. I will present our efforts to theoretically investigate dynamic changes of the tumour–host microenvironment, the capacity of the models to simulate drug delivery in humans and animal models, the in silico applications we are developing for surgical planning, and I will conclude with our future plans for research.

Before joining the University of Cyprus (UCY), Dr Vavourakis was a Senior Research Associate at the University College London, a Visiting Lecturer and Research Associate at UCY, and a Postdoctoral fellow at the Foundation for Research and Technology - Hellas. He holds a PhD in Mechanical Engineering and a Diploma in Aeronautics, both awarded by the University of Patras. Dr Vavourakis’ scientific expertise is in continuum solid mechanics and biomechanics, mathematical biology, and computational modelling in bioengineering. He leads the In Silico Modelling Group (ISMG; https://in-silico-modelling.ucy.ac.cy) at UCY, the research interests of which span from scientific computing, systems biology, and medicine.

He has published more than 40 journal papers and book chapters, and has been the PI of 5 EU and national R&D projects (participated in 15 projects) including a Marie Skłodowska-Curie fellowship. Dr Vavourakis is a member of the Virtual Physiological Human Institute, the International Assoc. of Computational Mechanics, the European Society of Biomechanics, the Marie Curie Alumni Association, and the UK Association of Computational Mechanics in Engineering.