Mathematical Modeling of cell colony growth and DNA Replication.

我们在这个项目中的一部分是建立一个染色体的计算机模型，允许研究转录和复制的竞争过程。这是与Aladjem博士小组的实验工作密切合作，他们已经进行了广泛的测序，以绘制转录和复制起始位点的分布，并测量了竞争过程的相对动力学。除了位点的空间分布外，我们基于蒙特-卡罗的数学模型还考虑了细胞的调节途径对特定的DNA结合、转录和复制蛋白质复合物的活性的影响。因此，该模型允许研究系统的空间，时间和调节蛋白质参数变化的动力学效应，这将与实验相关。该项目已扩展到模拟细胞集落的动态发育，以探索细胞复制中的哪些因素在正常与肿瘤形态的形成中占主导地位。

Our part in this project is the building of a computer model of a chromosome that allows for investigating the competing processes of transcription and replication. This is in close collaboration with the experimental work of Dr. Aladjem's group, who have done extensive sequencing to map the distribution of the transcription and replication initiation sites, and measured the relative kinetics of the competing processes. In addition to the spatial distribution of sites, our Monte-Carlo-based mathematical model takes into account the effects that the Cell's regulatory pathways have on the activities of the specific, DNA-binding, transcribing and replicating protein complexes. The Model thus allows for investigating the kinetic effects of changes in the spatial, temporal and regulatory-protein parameters of the system, which will be correlated with experiment. This project has been extended to model the dynamic development of cell colonies, to explore which factors in cell replication dominate in the formation of normal vs. tumor morphology.