Current Members
Samuel Oliver
Sam is currently a fourth-year PhD student at Swansea University. His area of research is looking into how adipose tissue and its composition can play a role in the development and progression of certain types of cancer. Sam is particularly interested in using mathematical models to predict how tumours will respond to different methods of treatment as this can give an important insight into what results can be expected when administered to a patient. Sam graduated from the University of Bath with an MMath degree in July 2021.
Jonathan Davies
Jonathan is a current second year PhD student at Swansea University.Jonathan`s PhD, “Modelling Cancer Immunotherapy: Investigating T-cell engaging therapies in Oncology’’ is a collaboration between Swansea University and AstraZeneca. Jonathan has recently completed a literature review of T cell engagers which encompasses both the biological and mathematical viewpoint. Currently he is focused on developing models to describe T cell engager dynamics, to help aid the development of T cell engager dosage and design.
Jonathan finished his MMath degree in July 2024 in Swansea University. During his degree Jonathan under took two internships with Swansea University. One on modelling the interplay of two strains of covid 19, and what causes dominance of each strain. The other internship was modelling monocyte levels in pregnant women.
Damian Bimbenet
Damian started his PhD in October 2024 under the supervision of Prof.Gibin Powathil at Swansea University and Dr.Angélique Stéphanou at the TIMC laboratory in Grenoble. His work aims at gaining insight on the reciprocal interactions between ionising radiation and cellular metabolism though mathematical and computational modelling. After writing a review paper on the identified biological processes, he is currently implenting a first model on the PhysiCell software.
Damian completed a Master’s degree in modelling mathematics at Sorbonne University in Paris in July 2024 and used multiscale modelling to describe the formation of an ovarian follicle during his final-year internship.
Past Members
Dr Kira Pugh
Kira is a Postdoctoral Researcher at Uppsala University, Sweden.
Kira completed his PhD in 2024 under the the supervision of Professor Gibin Powathil, at the University of Swansea.
During PhD, Kira developed mathematical models, both ODE based and multiscale models to study and model the effects of multiple DDR inhibitor drugs to inform optimum combination and sequencing of these drugs to increase their efficacy. The multiscale model that she developed was based on cellular automata in a high-performance computing framework and further she mastered in parameter estimation, parameter sensitivity analysis and other model analysis techniques.
Dr Kevin Spinicci
Kevin is a Postdoctoral Fellow at in Biomedical Mathematical Group at the Institute for Basic Science, South Korea.
Kévin completed his PhD in 2024 under the the supervision of Dr Gibin Powathil, at the University of Swansea, and Dr Angélique Stephanou, at the TIMC laboratory in Grenoble. He was awarded an engineering degree in Information Technology for Health at the school of Polytech Grenoble in 2020.
During PhD, Kevin studied the effect of the Hypoxia Inducible Factor (HIF) on cellular metabolism heterogeneity in the tumour. His work will combine two approaches: pathway enrichment analysis, to determine which precise pathways are deregulated in the case of cancer, and the development of a multi-agent mathematical model, to simulate tumour growth in 2D/3D.
Dr Carla White
Carla is a Research Officer and Data Scientist in the Faculty of Medicine, Health and Life Sciences at Swansea University.
Carla completed her PhD, entitled ‘Contributions to mathematical pharmacology: new receptor theory with dimeric receptor models’, in 2021. During this time, she developed numerous models for drugs interacting with receptors and analysed these using techniques such as asymptotic analysis and structural identifiability analysis.
Dr Sara Hamis
Sara is an Assistant Professor in Machine Learning, a Wenner-Gren Fellow and a Beijer Researcher at Uppsala University.
Sara completed her PhD, entitled ‘Multiscale modelling and analysis of tumour growth and treatment strategies, in 2020. During this time, she developed multiscale models to study cancer progression and treatment responses.