Swanson Lab
   Kristin Rae Swanson PhD

brain tumors - gliomas

Gliomas are diffuse and invasive brain tumors with the nefarious ability to recur despite extensive surgical resection. Chemotherapies are also seldom successful due to hindrance by the intricate capillary structure of the blood brain barrier. Based on a simple mathematical model of glioma growth and diffusion, we developed a model incorporating information regarding tumor polyclonality and brain tissue heterogeneity to track the spread and control of malignant gliomas.

An article about this work

A movie showing the simulation of our model for glioma growth and invasion.

prostate cancer - prostate specific antigen

Prostate cancer is a notoriously silent disease with few early symptoms. Although slow growing in initial stages, prostate cancer can be quite malignant and invasive at more advanced stages. Diagnosis often does not prostate cancer marker is found in the blood. Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) is a cancer marker produced by both cancerous and healthy cells. Cancerous cells have the ability to ''leak'' more PSA than healthy cells. The increased production of PSA by cancerous cells validates its use as a tumor marker although there are anomalies still not understood. We use mathematical models to help quantify the usefulness of PSA as a marker of tumor growth, and implicate its use in determining the effects of various treatments on prostate tumor growth and control. Model results are compared with experimental data procured by Professor L. True, Dr. D. Lin, K. Buhler and Dr. R. Vessella, Departments of Pathology and Urology, University of Washington Medical Center.

CellML description of the mathematical model we published in 2001 can be found here.

wallerian degeneration

Development of a mathematical model to describe Wallerian degeneration of axons within the adult human pyramidal tract following massive supra-medullory stroke. Model results are compared with autopsy data to determine the effect of the size of the axon on the subsequent degeneration rates.

PET imaging