Helen Byrne, a professor of mathematical biology at the University of Oxford whose research program operates at the interface of mathematical modeling and cancer biology, joined the Ludwig Oxford Branch in May as a senior group leader. Helen has been prominent in establishing productive collaborations between these fields in Oxford, leading projects on tumor growth, interactions with the microenvironment and the immune system, vascular networks and responses to therapy. Her group will extend its mechanistic models and advanced data analysis methods at Ludwig Oxford and develop innovative ways to combine these with complex, multiscale biomedical datasets. This approach should eventually establish a rational basis to support clinical decision-making, particularly for personalized cancer medicine. In recognition of her outstanding scientific achievements and record of active leadership in mentoring scientific careers, Helen was awarded the 2019 Leah Edelstein-Keshet Prize from the Society for Mathematical Biology, of which she became a Fellow in 2020. Helen retains her position at the Mathematical Institute in Oxford, and we expect her joint appointment will inspire new multidisciplinary partnerships and support the Oxford Branch’s vision of improving the understanding of the molecular basis of cancer and its heterogeneous responses to therapy.
This article appeared in the September 2022 issue of Ludwig Link. Click here to download a PDF (1 MB).