1st of April 2015, Chichley Hall
Kris van der Zee talked about models of avascular cancer growth in three dimensions. His models took cell growth, proliferation, nutrient consumption and diffusion into account. Diffusion is an important factor as the supply of nutrients, and the transport of waste products are factor that limit cell survival. Without this exchange cells would simply die. The models showed how cell agglomerates start to grow, fuse and form a unified tumour, which could be an explanation for the genetic diversity found within individual tumours. He then went on to introduce thermomechanics of phase-field models as the guiding principle for his modelling as well as the development of stable numerical schemes.
He responded to a question that had been raised by the biologists on what criteria would tell if a numerical simulation had "exploded/blown up" by showing videos of dynamic models that at times and at points had no defined solution e.g. values that oscillate in parts of the model between plus and minus infinity, very obviously not showing a result that could be found in real cells or tissues.
More about Kris van der Zee: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/mathematics/people/kg.vanderzee
This talk was part of a workshop on "Cell Mechanobiology" organised by Rene de Borst, which took place April 1st and 2nd 2015, with support by the Royal Society at Chicheley Hall. for the programme details see: http://bio-mat-sketches-mor.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/cell-mechanobiology-workshop-1st-2nd.html