29 September 2009

€1.7million grant to help solve maths cancer puzzle

Mathematicians at the University of Dundee have been awarded a major European grant of almost €1.7million to develop a virtual model of cancer growth and spread.

Dundee has long pioneered the use of mathematics to develop models which can predict how cancerous tumours develop, measuring their shape and the speed and spread of growth.

This new project, funded by the European Research Council, will lead to a full 'virtual cancer' model which could be used to assist clinicians in the diagnosis and treatment of patients.

'One of the big challenges in addressing cancer treatment is that you can have two patients with the same kind of tumour in the same area of the body, but they will react to it completely differently,' said Professor Mark Chaplain, Head of Mathematics at Dundee and the lead researcher in the new project.

'The factors which contribute to the creation and growth of cancerous cells can all be measured - most biological processes in the human body involve many different but inter-connected phenomena to which mathematical values can be applied.'

'By using cutting-edge applied and computational mathematical techniques to track the many factors involved in cancer growth and spread we can develop a virtual model of how cancers can be expected to grow, which would give clinicians another valuable tool in diagnosing and treating individual patients.'

The modelling approach is unique in its development of an individual-based model focussed at the cell level treating the biomechanical properties of each cell.

Professor Chaplain and his team will collaborate with researchers in Life Sciences, Medicine and Physics at Dundee to develop the new models.

'We are uniquely placed in Dundee in having all the relevant expertise needed across the different disciplines to work on this project,' said Professor Chaplain.

The grant covers five years and will provide seven new posts at the University - three post-doctoral research assistants, three PhD students and one research lecturer.

Cancer is one of the major causes of death in the world (particularly the developed world), with around 11 million people diagnosed and around 7 million people dying each year. The World Health Organisation predicts that current trends show around 9 million will die in 2015, with the number rising to 11.5 million in 2030.

The European grant builds on recent success for Maths at Dundee, which is enjoying a boom in recruitment at both undergraduate and postgraduate level.

'There seems to be a real surge of interest in mathematics at the moment which we are delighted to see,' said Professor Chaplain. 'The sort of work we are doing in cancer modeling illustrates the wide application of maths - in everything from science to sport to business - and there is a new generation who are picking up on that.'

For more on mathematics at Dundee see: www.maths.dundee.ac.uk/.

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