Steve Haigh

Computational biology, viewed from a 30-year software career.

Software developer of 30 years, now researching biomedical sciences at the University of Reading — extending the wcEcoli whole-cell framework to the first computational model of a human platelet.

Conference poster titled “Towards a whole-cell model of the human platelet” by Steve Haigh and Dr Mike Fry, School of Biological Sciences, University of Reading. Six sections explain why the platelet is the most tractable human cell to model whole (it has no nucleus, so no transcription or replication), how the wcEcoli bacterial framework was stripped back and rebuilt around the platelet calcium-release pathway, and how the model reproduces the measured calcium transient against published data. Figures show a schematic of the modelled systems, calcium and store traces before and after agonist, a dose-response surface over thrombin and ADP concentrations, and simulations of prostacyclin and clopidogrel. The stated conclusion is that the limit on a more complete model is the availability and consistency of quantitative data, not computation. The full text is in the linked PDF. — Poster — Towards a whole-cell model of the human platelet. UK Platelet Society, Reading · Sep 2026 · click through for the PDF

§01 Current focus

phd_search

Looking for a PhD place, or funding to carry on with the platelet model.

nonlinear_dynamics

Relearning the mathematics: Strogatz, and the lecture course that goes with it.

model_design

Going deeper on modelling itself: fewer moving parts, more predictive power.

§02 Now — updated Sep 2026

The dissertation is submitted and the result is a month or so away. I presented a poster on the platelet model at the UK platelet conference in Reading, where the questions from the modellers were harder, and more useful, than the questions from the biologists. Next up: finding a PhD, or funding to carry on with what I have started. In the meantime I am relearning the mathematics, plus a biochemistry course I started some time ago and intend to finish.

§03 Latest post

2026-09-17

Hodgkin and Huxley simulator

A 1952 model, fitted to one kind of experiment, predicted four things that it had never been shown. This is effectively the case for mechanistic modelling.

[modelling] [mathematics] [biology] [research]

$ cd ~/life