Inga Wang

From MathsDept

Short Bio: Inga Wang graduated in 2006 from the University of Auckland with a Masters degree in Applied Mathematics, and immediately began studying for a Doctor of Philosophy under the supervision of Professor James Sneyd in the Department of Mathematics.

Inga's research

Inga investigated the mechanisms that underlie the contraction of smooth muscle in the lung, with a view to improving our understanding of the causes and consequences of asthma.

Airway hyper-responsiveness is a major characteristic of asthma and is believed to result from the excessive contraction of airway smooth muscle cells.

In this thesis the underlying mechanism of airway hyper-responsiveness at both the molecular and cellular levels was investigated. Inga developed two mathematical models based on experimental data obtained from mouse lung slice preparations. One model studied the behaviour of intracellular calcium in airway smooth muscle cells, while the other model studied the properties of the contractile proteins in airway smooth muscle.

Inga has been offered a permanent position with AgResearch in Ruakura.