Using math to predict how cancer progresses in the human body

Mathematics and Statistics' Assistant Professor Mohamed Sulman, Ph.D. and his doctoral student, Truong Nguyen are investigating mathematical models that describe cancer cells invasion of a biological tissue.

Sulman examines mathematical models simulating cancer cells invasion of the extracellular matrix (ECM). The invasion is driven by the cancer cells movement as a result of their interactions with the proteins in the ECM, their diffusion, the gradients of the chemicals (chemotaxis) within the ECM and the gradient in the structure of the ECM.

The models describing the dynamics of cancer cell