Dr Carla White
Carla is a postdoctoral research assistant at Swansea University, working with Dr Gibin Powathil. Her current research is studying the effects of small molecule drugs on solid tumours. This involves the development of a multi-scale/multi-cell model, combining agent-based tumour models with ODE drug binding models. Carla is also part of the team providing information about the spread of Covid- 19 to the Welsh Government. As current environmental factors change, the model is used to simulate the potential outcomes of different scenarios.
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.
Tabitha Lewis
Tabitha is currently a first-year Mathematics PhD student at Swansea University, where she started her course in October 2021. This PhD is part of the AIMLAC CDT based at Swansea University. Her project is titled ‘ML-Guided Dynamical Systems Modelling of Sepsis’ and is under the primary supervision of Dr Noemi Picco. Sepsis is highly complex and unpredictable, where patients with mild symptoms can very quickly degenerate into those requiring resuscitation. By exploring sepsis in mice, Tabitha aims to identify possible biomarkers and turning points through machine learning and mathematical techniques.
Tabitha graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Mathematics from Swansea University in July 2019. She then went on to graduate in October 2020 with an MSc in Computer Science from the University of Birmingham.
Amy Milne
Amy is currently in her first year of her PhD at Swansea University under the supervision of Dr Noemi Picco. Her area of research is modelling the spatial ecology of cancer. She will consider the spatial and evolutionary aspects of the tumour and its microenvironment that affect the efficiency of intermittent treatments through the development and maintenance of resistance due to environment-mediated drug resistance. Amy graduated with a BSc with Honours and a Graduate Diploma in Secondary Education from Murdoch University in 2004. After a successful career in mathematics education, Amy completed a MSc in Mathematics from Queen Mary University of London in 2020.
Sam Oliver
Sam is currently a first-year PhD student at Swansea University under the supervision of Dr Gibin Powathil. 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.
Kira Pugh
Kira is currently a second-year PhD student at Swansea University under the primary supervision of Dr Gibin Powathil. She graduated with an MMATH from Swansea University in 2020. Currently, she is working on developing a mathematical model to study the effects and responses of DNA Damage Response (DDR) inhibiting drugs. The goal of the model is to predict the effects of the DDR inhibitor drugs in combination with each other, and in combination with other DNA damaging therapies such as radiation therapy or chemotherapy – with the aim to predict optimal scheduling, sequencing and dosage of the drugs.
Kévin Spinicci
Kévin is a second-year PhD student under 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. He is studying 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. The aim will be to perform drug repurposing to find potential candidates in cancer therapy.
Leonardo Lonati
Leonardo is currently a third-year PhD student at Pavia University under the primary supervision of Dr. Giorgio Baiocco and a visiting student at Swansea University under the supervision of Dr Gibin Powathil. He graduated with an MSc with Honours in Physics from Pavia University in 2019. Currently, he is working on studying alteration of cell cycle progression due to X-ray radiation, both implementing a mathematical model to predict the delays in time as a function of dose, with supporting experimental measurements on an in vitro system on a colorectal adenocarcinoma cell line (Caco-2).
Visiting from 11/21 to 04/22.
Dr Sara Hamis (2020)
Dr Carla White (2021)