Engineering, traditionally aimed at understanding the effects of natural laws on physical bodies and land processes, can also offer tools to explore and understand the human body.
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Under this look, Professor Lina María Gómez Echavarría, attached to the Department of Processes and Energy of the Faculty of Mines, has developed mathematical models that describe biological systems, including the female uterus, with the purpose of making visible the importance of recognizing and prioritizing menstrual health.
Starting from the premise that each human body is unique and that in those particularities it lies much of its well -being, Gómez Echavarría – mechanical and doctor in control of control systems – decided to focus their research on the body of women, so that the uterus, central organ in the biological life, female biological life, became the object of a rigorous analysis, through the use of differential equations and knowledge about transport phenomena.
One of the main concerns he addressed in his investigations was How the endometrium evolves during the menstrual cycle. Thanks to mathematical modeling, Gomez was able to describe the growth of this uterine layer: its detachment during menstruation, its regeneration in the preovulatory phase, its maximum development in ovulation and its maintenance or peeling in the premenstrual stage. “Observing the dynamics of the organs is essential to understand the body,” says the teacher, who leads the “human body engineering” course.
And since 2018, Gómez has used the phenomenological base semi -basic modeling methodology (MSBF) to study the behavior of the uterus, relying on tools of control systems engineering and female physiology. As a result of this work, he has published articles in scientific journals such as Journal of Theoretical Biology and has integrated this knowledge in academic activities at the National University of Colombia and other institutions.
Its approach allows us to understand that the female body should not be analyzed from standardized male models. Through physical laws such as thermodynamics and gravity, Gomez has shown that women have natural cyclic variations in metabolism, the absorption of nutrients and other physiological processesand recognize these differences, far from pathologizing them, implies accepting the cyclical nature of the female body as a health feature.
This approach too Proposes a paradigm shift in medicine, which has historically ignored the specificity of the ovulatory-mestrual cycle. According to Gomez, the treatment of women as “standardized bodies” has led to erroneous diagnoses and a limited vision of their metabolic and cardiovascular health.
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In addition to his research on the uterus, Gomez has modeled other biological systems such as respiratory and cardiovascular. Currently, it directs a doctoral thesis that analyzes how hormonal fluctuations of the ovulatory cycle affect metabolism and circulatory system, deepening phenomena such as glucose absorption, fat storage and vasoconstriction during menstruation.
In social and economic terms, Gomez warns that the lack of adequate understanding about female physiology generates negative impacts on the lives of women. Many current medical parameters derive from a biased and homogeneous vision that does not contemplate the cyclical dynamics of the female bodyreinforcing stereotypes and norms that do not conform to their biological needs.
One of the most relevant findings of their studies is the rethinking of certain clinical indicators. For example, the increase in cholesterol in premenopause does not necessarily reflect a disease, but an adaptive response to the decrease in estrogen, a normal process that usually misunderstands under traditional medical criteria.
Carolina Ramírez Mazo, doctoral candidate directed by Gómez, complements this perspective: Mathematically model the ovulatory cycle allows decentralizing it from its exclusive association with reproduction and recognizing its essential role in maintaining a healthy female body.
In sum, the work of Lina María Gómez demonstrates that the engineering applied to the study of the human body can be a powerful tool to generate knowledge, promote self -knowledge and strengthen women’s ability to manage their health in an informed and conscious way. Science and technology, in this context, are revealed as indispensable allies for a fairer and more complete understanding of female life.
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