Dr. Enderling (second from left) presenting and discussing his work
Discovery 1, May 2009
The American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) has awarded Dr. Heiko Enderling (Senior Research Associate, Center of Cancer Systems Biology), a three-year
$180,000 grant to study intrinsic dynamics in tumor progression.
The programs and services of the AACR, the largest scientific organization
in the world, promote the development of new ideas in every aspect of cancer research to prevent and cure cancer through research, education, communication and collaboration (www.aacr.org).
"Being awarded this prestigious grant reflects the recognition of the need for interdisciplinary cancer systems biology initiatives to define future research.
To be named one of the five Centennial Postdoctoral Fellows is a truly outstanding honor, especially for such an unconventional project entitled `Paradoxical
proliferation-apoptosis-migration dynamics in tumor progression' " said Dr. Enderling. The supported project combines mathematical and computational modeling techniques to simulate tumor progression in its early stages. The rigorous exploration of how intrinsic cell properties combine to advance or inhibit the disease will inevitably give insights for future treatment planning.
Under the supervision of his mentor, Dr. Philip Hahnfeldt (Senior Investigator, Center of Cancer Systems Biology), and with the generous support of this AACR Fellowship, Dr. Enderling will develop a data-driven theoretical model to seek a better understanding of the anomalous long-term tumor growth response often observed in response to treatment. This approach will be a vital augment to existing dynamical models for tumor development and should provide valuable new insights.
Dr. Enderling has recently presented initial ideas and results from this project at the centennial annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research in Denver, CO with 17,000 attendees. In addition to listening to lectures by
leading scientists in the field, Dr. Enderling had the opportunity to present and discuss his work with colleagues, and establish new contacts with interested researchers from different parts of the world.
Dr. Enderling (second from left) presenting and discussing his work
University of Dundee, Press Office 18 May 2006
Two post-graduate students at the University of Dundee have won travelling
scholarships worth a combined total of more than £2000 from the Scottish International Education Trust.
Alexandros Gasparatos, a civil engineering research student, has been awarded £1400 to travel to
Rome and Siena while Heiko Enderling, a PhD student in Mathematical Biology,
has been awarded £950 to travel to North Carolina in the USA.
Alexandros (27), who is originally from Greece, is carrying out research at the
Construction Management Research Unit focussing on ways of assessing the economic,
social and environmental issues that influence cities and their people.
During his trip to Italy he hopes to visit two research groups and attend a conference
which is likely to attract world class researchers.
"This is a really good opportunity," said Alexandros. "It will help my future research
and will provide important information for a paper I am writing. It is also a good networking opportunity."
Heiko Enderling (28) has an undergraduate degree in Applied Computing and is
currently working on an interdisciplinary project focussing on the mathematical modelling
of surgery and radiotherapy strategies of breast tumours.
Originally from Germany Heiko, will be travelling to Raleigh in North Carolina
where he has organised a mini-symposium to promote mathematical models in cancer treatment
at the annual meeting of the Society for Mathematical Biology.
"Leading researchers from various fields of mathematical modelling will be at the meeting to
present their latest contributions," he said. "It will be the perfect framework to discuss
my work on an international stage."
The Scottish International Education Trust was set up in 1971 on the initiative of Sir Sean Connery.
The aim of the Travel Grant Scheme is to assist young scientists, engineers and technologists
in Scottish Universities to attend or present papers at conferences, workshops and seminars
being held at universities or similar institutions of higher education abroad.
University of Dundee contact magazine, February 2006
Cancer Research UK have awarded £20,000 to final year mathematics PhD student, Heiko Enderling, for his joint research project with consultant surgeon, Dr Jayant S Vaidya, to develop mathematical models of tumours under radiation therapy. The research, which will focus on mathematical models of radiotherapy used to treat early breast cancer, will help to predict the outcomes of treatment and determine which types of therapy are most effective. Heiko Enderling is currently in the final year of his PhD in the Division of Mathematics supervised by Dr Alexander Anderson and Professor Mark Chaplain. This project focuses on both the modelling and visualisation of various aspects of tumour growth and treatment. More recently, his research has focussed on how exposure to radiation affects tumour cells and normal (uncancerous) tissue. Dr Vaidya, who joined Ninewells Hospital in October last year, has developed a new approach for radiotherapy, called Targit, which boosts its effectiveness and means that only a targeted single dose of radiation is given during surgery. This treatment is currently undergoing international, randomized clinical trials with final results expected in 2009. Already collaboration between Mr Enderling, Professor Chaplain and Dr Anderson in the Division of Mathematics, and Dr Vaidya and Professor Alastair Munro in Surgery and Molecular Oncology, has resulted in a joint publication which demonstrates the power of mathematical modelling in predicting the outcome of treatments with standard radiotherapy and the new Targit approach. The £20,000 grant from Cancer Research UK will fund an eight month project to further develop the mathematical models - a useful tool for simulating different treatment scenarios on theoretical patients before applying them on actual patients. These models work by representing each piece of the biological system as a separate component, each of which can be expressed by a mathematical equation. For example, different equations describe the behaviour of both normal and cancer cells as well their interaction. By applying radiation to the cells mathematically, it is possible to predict what the likely impact on the cells will be - will they cease growing, or die, or will they continue to multiply? In this manner the researchers are able to analyse how effective different types of radiation therapy are likely to be.
Illustration showing how a mathematical model predicts the growth and invasion of a tumour (red) within a breast with different internal structures, such as the breast ducts (blue) as time increases (left to right).
The Herald, August 30 2004
WILL the cancer come back? That is the fear survivors of the disease can face for the rest of their lives.Model method adds up to better treatment for cancer sufferers
BREAKTHROUGH: Dundee University's Sandy Anderson, left,
Mark Chaplain and Heiko Enderling,
whose work on cancer tumours can help predict recurrence
of the desease in patients.
click picture to get full size
Now, in an alliance between the hospital ward and the classroom, mathematicians at Dundee University are helping to solve this question for future generations of patients.
They have modelled virtual tumours which grow like the real thing, predicting where and how far malignant cells are likely to spread in the body.
Created using laboratory data on cancerous cells, the models are intended to help surgeons decide how much tissue to remove when they cut out cancerous lumps from part of the body, such as the breast.
They can also help judge how successful chemotherapy or radiotherapy is likely to be for a patient and to assess where the cancer is likely to spread to.
The team is working with Ninewells Hospital in Dundee to refine their models using data from scans of patients.
Professor Mark Chaplain, a mathematical biologist who has worked on the project since 1987, said leaving just a few cancerous cells behind in the body meant the illness could return, and their virtual tumours could help to reduce this risk.
He said: "Cancer is a complex and difficult disease to treat. At the moment, surgeons and medics do not necessarily make what I would say are quantifiable predictions.
"We know that if you have a solid lump in your breast it is going to get bigger. The surgeons might say with their expertise that it might get twice as big, but they are not able to give patients detailed information. Mathematics has the potential to give accurate predictions of how fast things grow and where cancer can spread."
An image of an expanding mass of cells, modelled by the experts, shows how a typical tumour grows with different colours indicating where the cancer is most aggressive. This virtual tumour can be adapted to mimic cancerous cells in different parts of the body, such as the colon, brain, or chest.
The effects of treatment can also be entered, allowing doctors to estimate more accurately how many malignant cells will be left after bouts of chemotherapy.
A map of tissue has also been produced with overlapping colours indicating where the malignant mass is likely to spread to next.
A further image indicates the size of the blood supply to a typical tumour.
Once a tumour has reached between 1mm and 2mm in diameter – about a million cells – it needs a blood supply to grow and sends out chemicals to draw nearby blood vessels towards its core. This allows the cancer to spread to other parts of the body, but also provides a network for delivering drugs to kill the disease.
Dr Sandy Anderson, a research lecturer in mathematical biology, said combining their models with research at Heriot-Watt University on how drugs flow through blood vessels, allowed for assessment of the likely success of treatments for cancer.
Dr Graeme Houston, a clinical radiologist who works with scans to plan and deliver treatment to cancer patients at Ninewells, said the virtual tumours had the potential to help tailor treatment better to each individual.
At the moment, he said, decisions were made based on the category a tumour fell into, which could be quite broad.
In the future, details of a patient's genetic fingerprint may be fed into the equations which produce the virtual tumours to predict how the cancer will behave in the specific patient and how best to attack it.
Dr Houston added: "At the moment a lot of the anxiety is the not knowing, and a better level of confidence about what the prospects are for individuals, and to be able to talk them through that, would be helpful."
Pamela Goldberg, chief executive of the Breast Cancer Campaign, said: "For women who have had surgery to remove a tumour, there always remains the fear and uncertainty that the breast cancer may reoccur – this research could lead to improvements in the way in which we diagnose and treat breast cancer in patients."