Linus Schumacher Research Group

Computational biology of cell populations

We study the interactions of cells in our tissues. Our bodies are communities of cells that work in concert with remarkable resilience. To understand how this works in health – and how it can go awry in disease – we use mathematical models and computational simulations to study these complex biological systems and discern informative patterns in experimental data.

Dr Linus Schumacher

Group Leader

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Research interests

The dynamics of a tissue arises from the behaviour of its constituent cells and their interactions. In embryo development, initially homogeneous populations of cells acquire cell fates in specific proportions and spatial arrangements to enable tissue function. How do individual cells coordinate with their neighbours to achieve this? In adult tissues, cell populations self-regulate to enable regeneration after injury without over-proliferating in a malignant manner. How does regeneration only happen when needed, and how does it know when to stop?

We use mathematical models and statistical inference methods to infer from various experimental data the most likely cellular behaviours and regulatory mechanisms underlying changing tissue states. Example methods include birth-death process models of stem cell division and differentiation, extending such models by incorporating regulatory interactions and additional or intermediate cell states, and machine learning tools to learn cell-cell interaction models directly from data in interpretable ways. The applications range from in vitro models of embryo development to adult tissue regeneration that is disrupted in ageing or cancer. We are aspire to work increasingly with data from human tissue samples or in vitro models, such as organoids.

By developing theoretical models, we also bring new perspectives on how to interrogate experimental data. We work closely with experimental collaborators with the aims to formulate principles that apply to multiple biological systems, gain insight into misregulation in disease, and inform improvements to regenerative therapy.

Accessible description of Linus Schumacher’s research