MITACS/PIMS Mathematical Biology Seminar: Hildur Knutsdottir

The presence of immune cells in breast tumors has been correlated with poor prognosis for years but it was not until recently that the role they play in promoting secondary tumors was understood. It has now been demonstrated experimentally that invasion of tumor cells into surrounding tissues and blood vessels is directly associated with immune cells. Gaining better understanding of the underlying mechanisms of this system is key in finding new targets in chemotherapy and to develop new breast cancer treatments. I will introduce a computational 3D individual cell based model that I developed to study the signaling pathway between breast cancer cells and immune cells. I will show that the model successfully reproduces results from both in vivo and in vitro experiments. A parameter sensitivity analysis has yielded insight into possible new targets in breast cancer chemotherapy.