Melanoma is an aggressive skin cancer driven by a phenotypically heterogeneous cell population. While a full mechanistic understanding is currently lacking, the leading micropthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) rheostat theory asserts that the downstream activity of MITF regulates transitions between differentiated, proliferative and invasive states. The population dynamics implied...
In this talk, I will discuss data-driven stochastic optimization strategies for the evolutionary race between a pathogenic cell population and a clinician. In this system, the clinician seeks to eliminate the adversarial cell population through optimally changing their environment and fitness, while conversely, the cells make optimal decisions to adapt and survive. I will present a stochastic...
This talk focuses on the mathematical modeling of oncolytic virotherapy (OVT), based on joint work with T. Hillen. We begin with a qualitative analysis of an extended model that captures the interactions between tumor cells, viruses, and the immune system. Building on this foundation, we investigate strategies to improve treatment efficacy, showing through analysis and simulations that...
The tumor microenvironment is a complex system involving cross-talk between tumor cells, stromal cells, and therapeutics in the microenvironment. One major avenue of my research has been the interactions between cancer cells, immunotherapy, and immune cells. In order to examine this, we developed an agent-based model that examines the interplay between cancer cells and their surrounding host...
Pancreatic cancer precursor lesions (PanINs and IPMNs) generate pronounced ductal deformations, arising from reciprocal interactions between epithelial mechanics, basement membrane integrity, and stromal remodeling. Yet the dynamic feedback loops governing this structural evolution remain poorly characterized. We present a multiscale mathematical modeling framework that couples ductal...
Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is central to diagnosis, longitudinal monitoring, and response assessment in brain tumors, motivating predictive models that operate not only on volumetric trajectories but directly in the imaging domain. While mechanistic models capture individualized tumor dynamics and treatment effects, they compress the spatial and anatomical information contained in...
Blood cell formation is maintained throughout the lifespan of an organism by a small population of hematopoietic (blood-forming) stem cells (HSCs). HSCs sustain their population through self-renewal while simultaneously giving rise to more differentiated offspring, referred to as progenitors and precursors, that mature into the various blood cell types. Over time, HSCs accumulate mutations...
To personalize cancer radiation therapy, we must give the right dose and dose fractionation, at the right time, dynamically adapted, to best harness the radiobiological effects of radiation as well as synergy with the patientโs immune system. I present the latest developments in the mathematical and computational modelling in radiation oncology to develop digital twins โ constructs that mimic...
This mini-symposium highlights emerging themes in mathematical oncology, focusing on recent methodological advances and clinical applications. Topics include emerging methodologies in spatiotemporal modeling, optimization, immune dynamics, and mechanistic learning. These methodologies will be explored in the context of the physical tumor microenvironment, therapeutic design, and the...
