Modelling ecDNA dynamics in human cells

The aim of this project is to use stochastic models based on simple mechanistic assumptions to explain observed patterns in human cells, including healthy tissues and tumours. Extra-chromosomal DNA (ecDNA) is any DNA that is found off the chromosomes inside the cell. ecDNA can play a crucial role in important biological functions, such as control of different diseases, and it has been experimentally found that tumour cells carry this type of DNA more frequently than healthy cells, thus ecDNA can be potentially useful in oncology.
The team would try to fit experimental and clinical data of genetic information into new predictive mathematical models which, for example, could calculate the expected frequency distributions of genetic errors, the expected incidence of cells which express mutations macroscopically, the behaviour of cells populations which are affected from a specific disease. The methods which are used are mostly based on numerical analysis and statistics: stochastic processes, Bayesian algorithms, numerical approximations are fundamental for the construction of our predictive models.

We aim to provide to medical research previsions about connections between the presence of a specific type of extra-chromosomal DNA and the incidence of some diseases or epigenetic traits.

The project is done in cooperation with Barts Cancer Institute of the School of Medicine and Dentistry in Queen Mary University of London.