Mechanical and aerospace engineering professor Robert F. Stengel GS '65 has received a one-year grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation for his research on disease processes.
"The immediate goal of the project, 'Optimal Control of Disease Processes,' is to produce a progression of methods for treating disease, beginning with a simple abstract model of the innate immune system," said Stengel, who has been at the University since 1977.
"With this model, we first show how to calculate the optimal treatment protocol when all information about immune system dynamics, the nature of the pathogenic attack, and the efficacy of drugs is known without error," he noted.
Stengel's research aims to develop therapeutic protocols that reduce concentrations of pathogens in the body while minimizing harmful side effects of treatment. The study will be based on mathematical analysis of disease processes, specifically of AIDS and Hepatitis C, according to the website on Stengel's study.
"Computations suggest the therapy that defeats the pathogen while preserving the virtual patient's health and minimizing the side effects of treatment," Stengel said.
He said he was excited about receiving the grant.
"It provides a wonderful opportunity to apply the analysis of dynamics and the design of control systems in a field of great human and social importance," he said. "It is critical to work together with biologists and medical researchers, for this is truly a multi-disciplinary enterprise, one that requires complementary skill sets."
Stengel works with Martin Weigert and Yoram Louzoun, members of the molecular biology department, David Ho of Rockefeller University and Paul Shapshak GS '69 of the University of Miami.
"Together, we can do much more than any of us could do apart," Stengel noted.
Raffaele Ghigliazza GS, who is also helping with the project, praised Stengel. "Professor Stengel has a very long experience in control systems and a profound understanding of its applications," said Ghigliazza, who is working with Nilesh Kulkarni GS on Stengel's study. "He is a very thorough researcher but also very open minded and eager to explore and discuss his student's ideas. Collaborating with him is definitely rewarding and challenging."
The Sloan Foundation is a philanthropic non-profit institution established in 1934. The foundation specializes in science and technology, standard of living, economic performance, scientific education and various other national issues.
Stengel is the director of the University Program in Robotics and Intelligent Systems and of the Laboratory for Control and Automation. He is a member of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Graduate Training Program in Biological Dynamics.
Stengel received an S.B. degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and M.S.E., M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Aerospace and Mechanical Sciences from Princeton. He is a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
This award is not Stengel's first honor. He received the AIAA Mechanics and Control of Flight Award and the FAA's 1997 Excellence in Aviation Award.
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