Pedro T. Monteiro

Pedro T. Monteiro, Filipe Gouveia

Biological regulatory networks can be represented by computational models, which allow the study and analysis of biological behaviours, therefore providing a better understanding of a given biological process. However, as new information is acquired, biological models may need to be revised in order to also account for this new information. Current model revision tools are scarce and often lack the flexibility to integrate with broader analysis workflows. Here, we present pyModRev, an enhanced iteration of the model revision tool ModRev, capable of verifying the consistency of Boolean regulatory models, and finding minimal repairs in case of inconsistency. pyModRev supports model validation against both steady state observations as well as time-series data, being able to consider different update schemes simultaneously. pyModRev supports different model formats, and is available as a Python package in PyPI, for easy integration with other model analysis tools, significantly improving accessibility and utility for the logical modelling community.

André Carneiro, Pedro T. Monteiro, Rui Henriques

Blood donation centers face challenges in matching supply with demand while managing donor availability. Although targeted outreach is important, it can cause donor fatigue via over-solicitation. Effective recruitment requires targeting the right donors at the right time, balancing constraints with donor convenience and eligibility. Despite extensive work on blood supply chain optimization and growing interest in algorithmic donor recruitment, the operational problem of assigning donors to sessions across a multi-site network, taking into account eligibility, capacity, blood-type demand targets, geographic convenience, and donor safety, remains unaddressed. We address this gap with an optimization framework for donor invitation scheduling incorporating donor eligibility, travel convenience, blood-type demand targets, and penalties. We evaluate two strategies: (i) a binary integer linear programming (BILP) formulation and (ii) an efficient greedy heuristic. Evaluation uses the registry from Instituto Português do Sangue e da Transplantação (IPST) for invite planning in the Lisbon operational region using 4-month windows. A prospective pipeline integrates organic attendance forecasting, quantile-based demand targets, and residual capacity estimation for forward-looking invitation plans. Results reveal its key role in closing the supply-demand gap in the Lisbon operational region. A controlled comparison shows that the greedy heuristic achieves results comparable to the BILP, with 188x less peak memory and 115x faster runtime; trade-offs include 3.9 pp lower demand fulfillment (86.1% vs. 90.0%), larger donor-session distance, higher adverse-reaction donor exposure, and greater invitation burden per non-high-frequency donor, reflecting local versus global optimization. Experiments assess how constraint-aware scheduling can close gaps by mobilizing eligible inactive/lapsing donors.