Summer School on Mathematics in Biology in Medicine

September 20-24, 2004

Markus Owen

Biography

Markus Owen's principal contributions are in the application of nonlinear mathematical models to problems in cell biology, in particular to cancer and developmental biology. He also has an active interest in mathematical ecology, immunology, and neuroscience. He uses a variety of mathematical frameworks including local and spatially extended systems of ordinary differential equations, parabolic and hyperbolic partial differential equations, and integral equations, and a range of analytical tools such as stability analysis, bifurcation theory, and asymptotic analysis including homogenization theory.

An important strand of his work is the analysis of stationary patterns and travelling waves in discrete and continuous models for intercellular signalling, with particular applications to developmental biology. Analysis of a discrete space nonlinear system of interacting cells led to the publication of a cover article in Developmental Biology, one of the premier journals in the field. The publication of a mathematical modelling paper in such a journal represents a considerable achievement. Ongoing research on patterning in the Drosophila eye and wing benefits from collaboration with renowned experimental scientists. His second main focus of research is on cancer biology, in particular the interaction with tumours of macrophages, a type of white blood cell. Significant results include the prediction that such immune cells could be manipulated to eradicate tumours, and that they could lead to complex spatiotemporal dynamics. Currently, a major interdisciplinary project focuses on the development of mathematical models for cancer immunotherapy, alongside related experiments at the Tumour Targeting Group led by Professor Claire Lewis (Sheffield). Other areas of research include: Analysis and numerical simulation of lung ventilation; Oscillations and waves in neural systems; Immune regulatory networks and rheumatoid arthritis; and Japanese knotweed invasion.