I'm currently a Manager in Quantitative Systems Pharmacology (QSP) at GSK in the Clinical Pharmacology Modelling & Simulation department, developing QSP and PK/PD models for non-oncology therapeutic areas. This entails generation and application of clinically-validated virtual populations to help support and drive project decisions in drug discovery and development. Before that I was a Senior Research Fellow at the Centre for Mathematical Medicine & Biology at the University of Nottingham, UK. I have worked on a range of topics in QSP and systems biology, focusing previously on modelling of cardiac electrophysiology (the electrical activity of the heart). This area of research is highly inter-disciplinary, relying on concepts and techniques from applied mathematics, computer science, cell biology and pharmacology, and clinical cardiology. In Nottingham I worked with Gary Mirams and before that I worked in the Leeds Computational Physiology Lab.
Safety Pharmacology and Modelling Drug-Ion Channel Interactions
Predictive in silico models based on multi-channel ion screening offer a promising approach to early drug safety assessment. This area of research focuses on developing and applying improved mathematical models of drug-ion channel interactions and associated tools for basic research and safety modelling.
• Whittaker, D. G., Capel, R. A., Hendrix, M., Chan, X. H. S., Herring, N., White, N. J., Mirams, G. R., Burton, R. A. B. (2021) R Soc Open Sci, 8: 210235.
Model Calibration and Model Reduction
Calibrating the parameters used in mathematical models is a crucial step when developing a predictive model. This area of research focuses on how we can improve the model calibration process, and also how we can identify parameters with reduced uncertainty using model reduction approaches.
Related publications:
• Whittaker, D. G., Wang, J., Shuttleworth, J. G., Venkateshappa, R., Kemp, J. M., Claydon, T. W., Mirams, G. R. (2022) J R Soc Interface, 20220193.
• Whittaker, D. G.*, Clerx, M.*, Lei, C. L., Christini, D. J., Mirams, G. R. (2020) WIREs Syst Biol Med, e1482.
Organ-Scale Modelling of Cardiac Excitation-Propagation
Cardiac electrical excitation-propagation is influenced by structure from the cellular level to the whole-organ scale. Quantitatively understanding how myocardial structure affects electrical activity presents a significant challenge. This area of research uses idealised and image-based tissue-scale models of cardiac electrophysiology to investigate the 3D propagation of excitation waves in the heart.
Related publications:
• Whittaker, D. G., Benson, A. P., Teh, I., Schneider, J. E., Colman, M. A. (2019) Biophys J, 117, 1–13.
• Perez Alday, E. A., Whittaker, D. G., Benson, A. P., Colman, M. A. (2019) Front Physiol, 10, 308.
Modelling the Short QT Syndrome
The Short QT Syndrome (SQTS) is a rare but dangerous condition in which the QT interval on the ECG is shorter than usual; it is associated with risk of atrial and ventricular arrhythmias as well as sudden cardiac death. This area of research focuses on investigating arrhythmia substrates, genotype-phenotype relationships, and therapeutic targets in the SQTS through the use of computational models.
01/05/2024 - QSP summit presentation Co-presented a talk on "Development of a QSP Model for HIV Viral Dynamics to Identify Optimal Combination Therapies" with Victoria Etges Helfer virtually at the Applied Biomath Quantitative Systems Pharmacology (QSP) Summit 2024, held in Cambridge, MA.
20/02/2024 - New role within GSK I have now joined the Clinical Pharmacology Modelling & Simulation department at GSK as a Manager in Quantitative Systems Pharmacology (QSP), where I will work on development of QSP models for infectious diseases and other non-oncology indications.
08/12/2023 - Book chapter available online A book chapter on The Short QT Syndrome in Heart Rate and Rhythm (published by Springer) written with colleagues from my PhD project is now available online.
17/01/2022 - Joined GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) I've started working as an Investigator in Quantitative Systems Pharmacology at GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) in the Systems Modeling and Translational Biology team.
17/09/2021 - Research and KE day talk Gave a talk called "Rapid characterisation of mutant ion channel kinetics using novel electrophysiology experiments" on our recent work at the Research and Knowledge Exchange Day for the School of Mathematics at the University of Nottingham.
05/07/2021 - Welcome Will! A big welcome to Will Pimm who has joined me for a 6 week funded Wellcome Biomedical Vacation Scholarship project, in which he will be looking at model reduction for cardiac ion channel models.
21/02/2020 - Invited talk at SFU Gave a talk on Multi-scale modelling of cardiac rhythm disorders in the Biomedical Physiology and Kinesiology lab at Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada.
18/02/2019 - Joined University of Nottingham I've started working with Gary Mirams on his Wellcome Trust Fellowship as a Senior Research Fellow in the Centre for Mathematical Medicine & Biology at the University of Nottingham.
