Professor Eamonn Gaffney
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Position
University Lecturer and Tutorial Fellow in Applied Mathematics (Mathematical Biology), Tutor for Graduates
Qualifications
PhD (Cambridge), MA (Cambridge).
Academic Background
I studied mathematics at The University of Cambridge, prior to a PhD in Mathematical Physics, followed by a Wellcome Trust Post-Doctoral Training Fellowship in Mathematical Biology at The University of Oxford. I proceeded to become a faculty member at The School of Mathematics, University of Birmingham for several years with duties ranging from lecturing to admissions tutor, in addition to research. I have recently returned to Oxford University to take up a faculty position in the Mathematical Institute and a tutorial fellowship at Brasenose College.
Undergraduate Teaching
Within college I give tutorials in applied mathematics for the first two years of the degree programme which supplements University lectures. As with all other colleges, mathematics undergraduates in later years attend University lectures, supported by intercollegiate classes. My university teaching currently consists of lecturing the thrid year course Mathematical Biology and Ecology plus giving intercollegiate classes in the Masters level course, Mathematical Physiology. I have previously taught and lectured across a broad range of applied mathematics, covering topics not only in my speciality of mathematical biology, but as diverse as special relativity, linear control theory and fluid dynamics.
Research Interests
My research is primarily in the general area of biological and biomedical applications of mathematics. Topics I am actively pursuing, and actively recruiting DPhil students for, include:
Modelling tumours and chemotherapy scheduling.
Pattern formation mechanisms especially on growing domains and, more recently, involving time delays.
Mathematical and Biological aspects of reaction diffusion systems. These range from mathematically based stability studies and to modelling transport phenomena on biologically realistic domains, captured by imaging.
Microbiological fluid dynamics including muco-ciliary dynamics and spermatozoa dynamics.
Models of cell movement, signalling and interaction.
Some recent publications
JB McGillen, CJ Kelly, A Martinez-Gonzalez, NK Martin, EA Gaffney, PK Maini, Victor M Perez-Garcia, Glucose–lactate metabolic cooperation in cancer: Insights from a spatial mathematical model and implications for targeted therapy, Journal of Theoretical Biology (2014) 361:190-203
EH Ooi, DJ Smith, H Gadêlha, EA Gaffney, J. Kirkman-Brown The mechanics of hyperactivation in adhered human sperm, Royal Society Open Science 2014, doi 10.1098/rsos.140230
K Ishimoto, EA Gaffney, A study of spermatozoan swimming stability near a surface. J. Theoretical Biology (2014) 360 187-199.
TE Woolley, PK Maini and EA Gaffney, Is pigment cell pattern formation in zebrafish a game of cops and robbers? Pigment Cell & Melanoma Research (2014) 27:686-687.
K Ishimoto, EA Gaffney, Swimming efficiency of spherical squirmers: Beyond the Lighthill theory. Phys Rev E (2014), 90 012704
TE Woolley, EA Gaffney, SL Waters, JM Oliver, RE Baker, A Goriely, Three mechanical models for blebbing and multi-blebbing, IMA Journal of Applied Mathematics (2014) 79:636-660.
AA Al-Shammari, EA Gaffney, S Egginton, Modelling capillary oxygen supply capacity in mixed muscles: Capillary domains revisited, Journal of Theoretical Biology, (2014) 356:47-61
DC Markham, MJ Simpson, PK Maini, EA Gaffney, RE Baker, Comparing methods for modelling spreading cell fronts Journal of Theoretical Biology (2014) 353:95-103.
S Manzano, EA Gaffney, M Doblare, AH Doweidar, Cartilage Dysfunction in ALS Patients as Side Effect of Motion Loss: 3D Mechano-Electrochemical Computational Model, Biomed Research International 179070 (2014)
JB McGillen, EA Gaffney, NK Martin, PK Maini, A general reaction-diffusion model of acidity in cancer invasion, J. Math. Biol. (2014), 68:1199-1224
MA Gilbert, SM White, JM Bullock, EA Gaffney, Spreading speeds for stage structured plant populations in fragmented landscapes, Journal of Theoretical Biology (2014), 349:135-49.
TE Woolley, EA Gaffney, JM Oliver, RE Baker, SL Waters, A Goriely, Cellular blebs: pressure-driven, axisymmetric, membrane protrusions, Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology (2014), 13:463-476.
Honorary Fellows
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Emeritus Fellows
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Undergraduate Courses
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