PhD comprehensive exam | Ali Mahdipour Shirayeh, Evolutionary Dynamics of Cancer: Spatial and Heterogeneous Effects

Evolutionary Dynamics of Cancer: Spatial and Heterogeneous Effects

Evolutionary dynamics as a mathematical approach has been used in numerous studies to model those life events which occur over a period of time. Our main focus in this research is on the evolutionary dynamics of cancer, where stochastic models are used to study cellular interactions within a cancerous tissue. To achieve this goal, we will investigate some important aspects thought to play a crucial role in the evolution of cancer such as different types of proliferation, genetic changes, and migratory potentials of cells. Moreover, we study the effect of spatial structure in cancer development which might have interesting applications in the study of colorectal cancer. Finally, we will concentrate our modeling efforts on the multi-compartment models for a heterogeneous population of cells in which various types of cells are competing to survive.