Nature to Numbers: Complex Systems Modelling of Cancer

Abstract

This chapter represents a survey of the literature pertaining to mathematical modelling of tumour biology and techniques used to achieve tumour simulations. The purpose of this review is to (a) portray the vast array of techniques currently in use in the field, including mathematical and computational formalisms; (b) develop an appreciation of the enormous complexity of the problem domain, i.e. the tumour system, and hence portray the parallel complexity of the techniques needed to describe the system; (c) develop a detailed survey of model attributes so that the challenges that model integration poses, as well as possible solutions, can be defined.