18th Annual Student Research Conference
Interdisciplinary
A Graph Theoretic Approach to Vascular Network Inhibition
Kathleen E. Field
Dr. Jason E. Miller, Dr. Jon Beck, Dr. Don Bindner, Dr. Robert W. Baer (A. T. Still University), and Dr. Jim Rhodes (KCOM), Faculty Mentors
Endothelial cells can self organize into networks of blood vessels. This process is called vasculogenesis. It is believed that melanoma cells can mimic this process and organize into vascular networks in order to nourish a tumor. Understanding the properties of endothelial and melanoma networks will help evaluate the effectiveness of drug treatments designed to inhibit network growth. We investigate the possibility that ideas from algebraic graph theory (properties of adjacency matrices, eigenvalues, number of nodes) add a quantitative characteristic that will help physiological researchers determine newtork inhibition and drug effectiveness.
Keywords: Graph Theory, Vasculogenesis
Topic(s):Interdisciplinary
Presentation Type: Oral Paper
Session: 50-5
Location: VH 1408
Time: 4:45