Using mathematics to deepen our understanding of stem cell behaviour and improve experiments
General interests: mathematical biology, stem cell biology, population modelling, agent-based modelling .
Human stem cells are at the forefront of modern molecular biology research due to their ability to give rise to any specialist human cell type. However, stem cells are notoriously difficult to grow in culture and exhibit complex behaviours across multiple scales. Under the supervision of Dr Nick Parker and Prof Anvar Shukurov (School of Mathematics & Statistics) and with biological collaborators Prof Majlinda Lako (Institute of Biosciences) and Dr Irina Neganova (Russian Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg) I am working to develop mathematical models of stem cell behaviour, from single cells to large colonies.
We use statistical analysis of stem cell experiments and a variety of mathematical techniques, including stochastic differential equations and agent-based probabilistic models, to describe the key behaviours of stem cells, including their cell cycles, pluripotency, kinematics and structure formation.