Dr Thomas Woolley
Senior Lecturer
- woolleyt1@cardiff.ac.uk
- +44 (0)29 2087 0618
- Room 5.15, Abacws, Senghennydd Road, Cathays, Cardiff, CF24 4AG
- Media commentator
Overview
Research Group
Applied Mathematics.
Research Interests
Mathematical biology, Morphogenesis, Reaction-diffusion theory, Cellular motion, Stochastic dynamics, Neurobiology, Oncology.
Biography
Dr Thomas Woolley studied mathematics at University of Oxford between 2004-2017. Through his education he ended up specializing in mathematical biology, where his doctorate focused on understanding the pattern formation behind fish spots and zebra stripes. Alongside this research he now investigates mathematical models of stem cell movement. The hope is that by understanding how stem cells move we can influence them and, thus, speed up the healing process.
When not doing mathematics he is a keen participant in mathematical outreach workshops and has given a variety of popular maths lectures nationally and internationally. He has previously worked for the BBC, illustrated Marcus du Sautoy’s book and worked on the popular maths show “Dara O’Briains school of hard sums”. Most recently he was the Fellow of Modern Mathematics at the London Science Museum and is helped redesign their mathematics gallery.
Publications
2024
- Henley, L., Finch, D., Mathews, F., Jones, O. and Woolley, T. E. 2024. A simple and fast method for estimating bat roost locations. Royal Society Open Science 11(4), article number: 231999. (10.1098/rsos.231999)
- Gallagher, K., Ostler, T. and Woolley, T. 2024. Retinal oxygenation with conventional 100ms vs short-pulse pan-retinal laser photocoagulation. Ophthalmic Surgery, Lasers and Imaging Retina 55(1), pp. 40-45. (10.3928/23258160-20231114-01)
- Henley, L., Jones, O., Mathews, F. and Woolley, T. 2024. Bat motion can be described by leap frogging. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 86, article number: 16. (10.1007/s11538-023-01233-5)
- Tseng, C., Woolley, T., Jiang, T., Wu, P., Maini, P., Widelitz, R. and Chuong, C. 2024. Inhibition of gap junctions stimulates Turing-type periodic feather pattern formation during chick skin development. PLoS Biology
2023
- Moore, J. W., Dale, T. C. and Woolley, T. E. 2023. Modelling polarity-driven laminar patterns in bilayer tissues with mixed signalling mechanisms. SIAM Journal on Applied Dynamical Systems 22(4), pp. 2945-2990. (10.1137/22M1522565)
- Smith, C. J. et al. 2023. Unravelling the clinical co-morbidity and risk factors associated with agenesis of the corpus callosum. Journal of Clinical Medicine 12(11), article number: 3623. (10.3390/jcm12113623)
- Oruganti, S. et al. 2023. Immune and metabolic markers for identifying and investigating severe Coronavirus disease and Sepsis in children and young people (pSeP/COVID ChYP study): protocol for a prospective cohort study. BMJ Open 13, article number: e067002. (10.1136/bmjopen-2022-067002)
- Glover, J. D. et al. 2023. The developmental basis of fingerprint pattern formation and variation. Cell 186, pp. 1-17. (10.1016/j.cell.2023.01.015)
2022
- Moore, S. C., Woolley, T. E. and White, J. 2022. An exploration of the multiplicative effect of "Other people" and other environmental effects on violence in the night-time environment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 19(24), article number: 16963. (10.3390/ijerph192416963)
- May, S. et al. 2022. Modification of diet to reduce the stemness and tumourigenicity of murine and human intestinal cells. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research 66(19), article number: 2200234. (10.1002/mnfr.202200234)
- Ghazal, P., Rodrigues, P. R., Chakraborty, M., Oruganti, S. and Woolley, T. E. 2022. Corrigendum to "Challenging molecular dogmas in human sepsis using mathematical reasoning" [EBioMedicine 80 (2022) 104031]. EBioMedicine 85, article number: 104331. (10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104331)
- Moore, J. W., Dale, T. C. and Woolley, T. E. 2022. Polarity driven laminar pattern formation by lateral-inhibition in 2D and 3D bilayer geometries. IMA Journal of Applied Mathematics 87(4), pp. 568-606.
- Woolley, T. 2022. Boundary conditions cause different generic bifurcation structures in Turing systems. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 84(9), article number: 101.
- Ghazal, P., Rodrigues, P. R., Chakraborty, M., Oruganti, S. and Woolley, T. E. 2022. Challenging molecular dogmas in human sepsis using mathematical reasoning. EBioMedicine 80, article number: 104031. (10.1016/j.ebiom.2022.104031)
- Woolley, T., Hill, W. and Hogan, C. 2022. Accounting for dimensional differences in stochastic domain invasion with applications to precancerous cell removal. Journal of Theoretical Biology 541, article number: 111024. (10.1016/j.jtbi.2022.111024)
- Robinson, J. et al. 2022. The association of neurodevelopmental abnormalities, congenital heart and renal defects in a Tuberous Sclerosis Complex patient cohort. BMC Medicine 20, article number: 123. (10.1186/s12916-022-02325-0)
- Buze, M., Woolley, T. E. and Mihai, L. A. 2022. A stochastic framework for atomistic fracture. SIAM Journal on Applied Mathematics 82(2), pp. 526-548. (10.1137/21M1416436)
2021
- Kasemeier-Kulesa, J. C., Spengler, J. A., Muolo, C. E., Morrison, J. A., Woolley, T., Schnell, S. and Kulesa, P. M. 2021. The embryonic trunk neural crest microenvironment regulates the plasticity and invasion of human neuroblastoma via TrkB signaling. Developmental Biology 480, pp. 78-90. (10.1016/j.ydbio.2021.08.007)
- Ostler, T. et al. 2021. Vitrifying multiple embryos in different arrangements does not alter the cooling rate. Cryobiology 103, pp. 22-31. (10.1016/j.cryobiol.2021.10.001)
- Moore, J. W., Lau, Z., Kaouri, K., Dale, T. C. and Woolley, T. E. 2021. A general computational framework for COVID-19 modelling with applications to testing varied interventions in education environments. COVID 1(4), pp. 674-703. (10.3390/covid1040055)
- Suarez-Berumen, K. et al. 2021. Pannexin 1 regulates skeletal muscle regeneration by promoting bleb-based myoblast migration and fusion through a novel lipid based signaling mechanism. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology 9, article number: 736813. (10.3389/fcell.2021.736813)
- Simonović, J. and Woolley, T. 2021. Generalised S-System-Type Equation: Sensitivity of the deterministic and stochastic models for bone mechanotransduction. Mathematics 9(19), article number: 2422. (10.3390/math9192422)
- Hill, W. et al. 2021. EPHA2-dependent outcompetition of KRASG12D mutant cells by wild-type neigbors in the adult pancreas. Current Biology 31(12), pp. 2550-2560., article number: E5. (10.1016/j.cub.2021.03.094)
- Woolley, T. E., Krause, A. L. and Gaffney, E. A. 2021. Bespoke Turing systems. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 83, article number: 41. (10.1007/s11538-021-00870-y)
- Harper, P., Moore, J. and Woolley, T. 2021. Covid-19 transmission modelling of students returning home from university. Health Systems 10(1), pp. 31-40. (10.1080/20476965.2020.1857214)
- Harn, H. I. et al. 2021. Symmetry breaking of tissue mechanics in wound induced hair follicle regeneration of laboratory and spiny mice. Nature Communications 12, article number: 2595. (10.1038/s41467-021-22822-9)
- Moore, J., Woolley, T., Hopewell, J. W. and Jones, B. 2021. Further development of spinal cord retreatment dose estimation: including radiotherapy with protons and light ions. International Journal of Radiation Biology 97(12), pp. 1657-1666. (10.1080/09553002.2021.1981554)
2020
- Krause, A., Klika, V., Halatek, J., Grant, P., Woolley, T., Dalchau, N. and Gaffney, E. 2020. Turing patterning in stratified domains. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 82, article number: 136. (10.1007/s11538-020-00809-9)
- Henley, L., Moore, J., Ostler, T. and Woolley, T. 2020. Long term environmental implications of social distancing on public transport emissions. Project Report. [Online]. London: UK Government. Available at: https://committees.parliament.uk/writtenevidence/8995/pdf/
- Mihai, L. A., Woolley, T. and Goriely, A. 2020. Likely cavitation and radial motion of stochastic elastic spheres. Nonlinearity 33(5), article number: 1987. (10.1088/1361-6544/ab7104)
- Krause, A., Klika, V., Woolley, T. and Gaffney, E. 2020. From one pattern into another: analysis of Turing patterns in heterogeneous domains via WKBJ. Interface 17(162) (10.1098/rsif.2019.0621)
- Viglialoro, G. and Woolley, T. E. 2020. Solvability of a Keller-Segel system with signal-dependent sensitivity and essentially sublinear production. Applicable Analysis 99(14), pp. 2507-2525. (10.1080/00036811.2019.1569227)
- Adamer, M. F., Harrington, H. A., Gaffnery, E. A. and Woolley, T. E. 2020. Coloured noise from stochastic inflows in reaction-diffusion systems. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 82, article number: 44. (10.1007/s11538-020-00719-w)
- Harper, P., Moore, J. and Woolley, T. 2020. Secondary household Covid-19 transmission modelling of students returning home from university. n/a
2019
- Fitt, D., Wyatt, H., Woolley, T. and Mihai, L. A. 2019. Uncertainty quantification of elastic material responses: testing, stochastic calibration and Bayesian model selection. Mechanics of Soft Materials 1, article number: 13. (10.1007/s42558-019-0013-1)
- Budia, I., Alvarez-Arenas, A., Woolley, T., Calvo, G. and Belmonte-Beitia, J. 2019. Radiation protraction schedules for low-grade gliomas: A comparison between different mathematical models. Interface 16(161), article number: 20190665. (10.1098/rsif.2019.0665)
- Picco, N. and Woolley, T. 2019. Time to change your mind? Modelling transient properties of cortex formation highlights the importance of evolving cell. Journal of Theoretical Biology 481, pp. 110-118. (10.1016/j.jtbi.2018.08.019)
- Maini, P. K. and Woolley, T. 2019. The Turing model for biological pattern formation. In: Bianchi, A. et al. eds. The Dynamics of Biological Systems. Mathematics of Planet Earth Springer, pp. 189-204.
- Mihai, L. A., Fitt, D., Woolley, T. and Goriely, A. 2019. Likely cavitation in stochastic elasticity. Journal of Elasticity 137(1), pp. 27-42. (10.1007/s10659-018-9706-1)
- Picco, N., Hippenmeyer, S., Woolley, T., Rodarte, J., Streicher, C., Molnar, Z. and Maini, P. K. 2019. A mathematical insight into cell labelling experiments for clonal analysis. Journal of Anatomy 235(3), pp. 687-696. (10.1111/joa.13001)
- Mihai, L. A., Woolley, T. and Goriely, A. 2019. Likely chirality of stochastic anisotropic hyperelastic tubes. International Journal of Non-Linear Mechanics 114, pp. 9-20. (10.1016/j.ijnonlinmec.2019.04.004)
- Mihai, L. A., Fitt, D., Woolley, T. E. and Goriely, A. 2019. Likely equilibria of stochastic hyperelastic spherical shells and tubes. Mathematics and Mechanics of Solids 24(7), pp. 2066-2082. (10.1177/1081286518811881)
- Simonovic, J. and Woolley, T. 2019. Deterministic and stochastic parameter analysis of the bone cell population model. Presented at: 8th International Conference on Computational Bioengineering (ICCB2019), Belgrade, Serbia, 4-6 September 2019.
- Simonovic, J. and Woolley, T. 2019. Equation of osteocyte activity in the bone cell population model. Presented at: ACTC Advances in Cell and Tissue Cultures, Cardiff University School of Biosciences, Cardiff, UK, 4-5th June 2019.
- Mihai, L. A., Woolley, T. E. and Goriely, A. 2019. Likely equilibria of the stochastic Rivlin cube. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A: Mathematical, Physical and Engineering Sciences 377(2144), article number: 20180068. (10.1098/rsta.2018.0068)
- Weber, E., Woolley, T. E., Yeh, C., Ou, K., Maini, P. K. and Chuong, C. 2019. Self-organizing hair peg-like structures from dissociated skin progenitor cells: New insights for human hair follicle organoid engineering and Turing patterning in an asymmetric morphogenetic field. Experimental Dermatology 28(4), pp. 355-366. (10.1111/exd.13891)
- Mihai, L., Fitt, D., Woolley, T. and Goriely, A. 2019. Likely oscillatory motions of stochastic hyperelastic solids. Transactions of Mathematics and Its Applications 3(1), article number: tnz003. (10.1093/imatrm/tnz003)
- Simonovic, J. and Woolley, T. 2019. Study of bone cell population models of s-system type. Presented at: Organ-on-a-Chip Technologies Network – Learning and Collaborative Event on 8 April 2019 at QMUL, London, UK, 8-9 April 2019.
- Ho, W. K. W. et al. 2019. Feather arrays are patterned by interacting signalling and cell density waves. PLoS Biology 17(2), article number: e3000132. (10.1371/journal.pbio.3000132)
- Navajas Acedo, J. et al. 2019. Parallel control of mechanosensory hair cell orientation by the PCP and Wnt pathways. Nature Communications 10, article number: 3993. (10.1038/s41467-019-12005-y)
2018
- Viglialoro, G. and Woolley, T. E. 2018. Eventual smoothness and asymptotic behaviour of solutions to a chemotaxis system perturbed by a logistic growth. Discrete and Continuous Dynamical Systems - Series B 23(8), pp. 3023-3045. (10.3934/dcdsb.2017199)
- Picco, N., García-Moreno, F., Maini, P. K., Woolley, T. E. and Molnár, Z. 2018. Mathematical modelling of cortical neurogenesis reveals that the founder population does not necessarily scale with neurogenic output. Cerebral Cortex 28(7), pp. 2540-2550. (10.1093/cercor/bhy068)
- Kasemeier-Kulesa, J. C. et al. 2018. Predicting neuroblastoma using developmental signals and a logic-based model. Biophysical Chemistry 238, pp. 30-38. (10.1016/j.bpc.2018.04.004)
- Picco, N., García-Moreno, F., Maini, P., Woolley, T. and Molnar, Z. 2018. Mathematical modeling of cortical neurogenesis reveals that the founder population does not necessarily scale with neurogenic output. Cerebral Cortex 28(7), pp. 2540-2550. (10.1093/cercor/bhy068)
- Krause, A. L., Klika, V., Woolley, T. E. and Gaffney, E. A. 2018. Heterogeneity induces spatiotemporal oscillations in reaction-diffusions systems. Physical Review E 97, article number: 52206. (10.1103/PhysRevE.97.052206)
- Woolley, T., Belmonte-Beitia, J., Calvo, G. F., Hopewell, J. W., Gaffney, E. A. and Jones, B. 2018. Changes in the retreatment radiation tolerance of the spinal cord with time after the initial treatment. International Journal of Radiation Biology 94, pp. 515-531. (10.1080/09553002.2018.1430911)
- Sanders, J., Ashley, B., Moon, A., Woolley, T. and Swann, K. 2018. PLCz induced Ca2+ oscillations in mouse eggs involve a positive feedback cycle of Ca2+ induced InsP3 formation from cytoplasmic PIP2. Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology 6, article number: 36. (10.3389/fcell.2018.00036)
- Viglialoro, G. and Woolley, T. 2018. Boundedness in a parabolic-elliptic chemotaxis system with nonlinear diffusion and sensitivity, and logistic source. Mathematical Methods in the Applied Sciences 41(5), pp. 1809-1824. (10.1002/mma.4707)
- Mihai, L. A., Woolley, T. and Goriely, A. 2018. Stochastic isotropic hyperelastic materials: constitutive calibration and model selection. Proceedings of the Royal Society A 474(2211), article number: 201708. (10.1098/rspa.2017.0858)
2017
- Adamer, M., Woolley, T. and Harrington, H. 2017. Graph-facilitated resonant mode counting in stochastic interaction networks. Journal of the Royal Society Interface 14(137), article number: 20170447. (10.1098/rsif.2017.0447)
- Woolley, T. E. 2017. Pattern production through a chiral chasing mechanism. Physical Review E 96, article number: 32401. (10.1103/PhysRevE.96.032401)
- Woolley, T. E., Gaffney, E. A. and Goriely, A. 2017. Random blebbing motion: a simple model linking cell structural properties to migration characteristics. Physical Review E 96, article number: 12409. (10.1103/PhysRevE.96.012409)
My research focuses on understanding emergent properties and producing rigorous limits, which allow us to scale between discrete elements and continuous systems. Specifically, my doctoral research considered the link between continuous reaction-diffusion equations and their agent-based analogues.
More recently, I have been working on newly discovered cellular protrusions, which are able to affect a variety of cellular phenomena, such as motion and division. In collaboration with the University of Reading I am researching muscle stem cells that navigate towards regions of muscular damage resulting in muscle healing and regeneration. In particular, I am deriving analytical links between the spatio-temporal discrete protrusions of an individual cell and the continuous population distribution and movement of the stem cells. Critically, we have been able to use this model to algebraically couple traits in the observable cellular motion to unobservable structural features of the cell membrane.
