Tomas Helikar

Associate Professor of Biochemistry, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

thelikar2@unl.edu

Lab Site

Dr. Helikar is a Susan J Rosowski Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Helikar holds courtesy appointments as an Associate Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Neuroscience. Dr. Helikar obtained his B.Sc. in Bioinformatics from the Computer Science Department at the University of Nebraska at Omaha in 2006, and his Ph.D. from the Department of Pathology and Microbiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 2010. Dr. Helikar joined the University of Nebraska-Lincoln in 2013 as an Assistant Professor after completing a 3-year postdoctoral work in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Nebraska at Omaha.

Publications

Google Scholar

Research Description

Dr. Helikar’s long-term goal is to identify how to rewire parts of the immune system en masse to elicit higher-order decision-making that still enables the system to remain otherwise “healthy.” He strives to understand how aberrant changes in the immune system’s networks result in diseases and strategically develop more effective therapies to challenge these diseases. To accomplish this, his team develops computational multi-scale, multi-cellular systems models, high-throughput data analysis tools, systems biology modeling software tools, and combines computationally-developed insights with molecular and cellular immunology experimental studies. In 2022, Dr. Helikar started Digital Twin Innovation Hub - a center focused on the development of an immune digital twin and related modeling and simulation technologies.

Subgroup Memberships

Immune Digital Twins

Expertise

Multiscale modeling systems immunology constraint-based models logical models software engineering