In this course, we’ll show how to convert a simple 1D PDE model into a 2D as well as 3D multiscale tissue model in a few steps.

Excitable Media

Excitable Media are a type of spatial nonlinear dynamical systems that have the ability to propagate waves and are distinguished by a refractory period, during which a new wave cannot pass. Think of a forest where a forest fire can spread (the wave), but a new fire of fire cannot pass until the tree have grown back (the refractory period).

A famous example of excitability in biological cells is the aggregation of social amoeba (Dictyostelium discoideum)

In tissue biology, excitability is observed in the generation of a spike of transmembrane potential (action potential) by a neuron or cardiac cell, induced by a depolarizing perturbation of a resting state. In fact, a number of pathologies in the brain (epilepsia) and the heart (ventricular fibrillations, tachycardia) can be modelled as excitable media.

In this course, we will show how to construct a simple multiscale model of an 3D excitable tissue, starting from a 1D PDE model.

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