BIOREME x QSP-UK Meeting Blog
Researchers from across the UK came together in Nottingham for the BIOREME x QSP-UK joint meeting, on the 9th of December 2025. A day designed to connect people working in of mathematics, pharmacology, and respiratory medicine. Held at the Jubilee Conference Centre on the University of Nottingham’s Jubilee Campus, the meeting brought together experts from academia, industry and early career researchers to explore how mathematical modelling can transform drug discovery and respiratory translational science.
Although each network has its own focus, both BIOREME and QSP-UK share a commitment to collaboration. QSP-UK, also EPSRC-funded, has been building a national community in Quantitative Systems Pharmacology since 2015, encouraging connections between industry and academic researchers working on whole-body mechanistic modelling to understand how medicines behave. The meeting was designed to offer a space where experimentalists, mathematical modellers, clinicians, and industry scientists could sit in the same room and talk about shared challenges, new ideas, and the future of modelling in respiratory medicine.
Across the four themed sessions, speakers covered topics ranging from viral-dynamics models to digital twins for smart inhaler development, structural identifiability, lung PBPK models, neonatal hyperoxia, and more. The programme, which featured researchers from universities including Nottingham, Warwick, and UCL alongside colleagues from GSK, Certara UK, Purcell AI, and Residual Dynamics offered attendees a rare chance to hear how modelling is being used at every stage of respiratory drug development and clinical insight generation.
We opened the day with Bindi Brook and Michael Chappell welcoming everyone followed by 4 sessions which explored:
Mathematical modelling in drug discovery — including asthma multiscale modelling, translational PKPD strategy, and structural identifiability.
The role of QSP in preclinical research — from semi-mechanistic pathway models to inhaled PBPK modelling.
Novel modelling approaches — such as mechanistic viral-dynamics models and neonatal BPD simulations.
Translational applications of QSP — including digital inhaler twins and regulatory case studies.
One of the great things about the meeting was just how varied the talks were. Although every speaker worked broadly under the umbrella of mathematical and mechanistic modelling, the type of modelling and the questions being asked could not have been broader.
Some talks were deeply mathematical or engineering-focused, going into the technical foundations of modelling. Michael Chappell’s session on structural identifiability reminded the room how easily models can become misleading if key parameters cannot be determined.
At the other end of the spectrum were talks grounded firmly in clinical work. Joe Standing’s presentation on respiratory viral dynamics drew from real patient datasets, including SARS-CoV-2 viral load profiles and antiviral treatment responses. His slides highlighted how viral dynamics behave differently depending on sample site.
His treatment modelling work showed the complexities of antiviral timing and the importance of linking PK, viral load, and immune response together in a single mechanistic framework.
Then came the more conceptual or reflective talks, Gary Mirams’ talk showed the vast evolution of mechanistic electrophysiology models and highlighted something more philosophical: how accurate does a model need to be? And can an attempt to increase the accuracy of the model distort it from the real-world event it’s trying to simulate?
Many attendees left with new connections, new ideas, and a clearer sense of how different modelling communities across the UK, whether in academia or industry, can learn from one another.
If you would like to know more about the QSP-UK network, you can find their upcoming event here UK QSP Network - Activities