Alexander Stein

Postdoc interested cancer evolution

I recently started my Postdoc in the labs of Maxime Tarabichi (IRIBHM-ULB) and Jonas Demeulemeester (VIB-KU Leuven), where my research focus will be on the spatio-temporal dynamics of genome and transcriptome in tumours. Previously, I did my PhD under supervision of Benjamin Werner and Kateřina Staňková with a dissertation titled "Mathematical modelling of tumour evolution: From intra-tumour heterogeneity to treatment resistance".

Research

Population genetics of cancer

As cancers grow, they accumulate genetic changes subject to genetic drift and selection. While most mutations have no impact on the cancer cell's phenotype, some mutations drive progression and treatment resistance . I am interested in understanding how single cells give rise to (sub-)population of cells that expand or go extinct as well as the the footprints that those dynamics leave in sequencing data.

Evolutionary game theory applied to cancer

Evolutionary game theory (EGT) provides a framework to study the interactions between multiple entities. As such, EGT is used to study interactions of cancer cells with other cancer cells, the tumor-microenvironment or treatment. The latter has led to development of Stackelberg evolutionary game (SEG) theory. In SEG theory, a rational leader (the clinician) optimizes an objective (quality of life of the patient) under consideration of the eco-evolutionary dynamics of the followers (the cancer cell population).

First-authored publications

On the patterns of genetic intra-tumour heterogeneity before and after treatment

Alexander Stein, Benjamin Werner

Genetics, 2025

Link: https://doi.org/10.1093/genetics/iyaf101

Selective sweep probabilites in spatially expanding populations

Alexander Stein, Ramanarayanan Kizhuttil, Maciej Bak, Robert Noble

bioRxiv, 2023

Link: https://doi.org/10.1101/2023.11.27.568915

Stackelberg evolutionary game theory: how to manage evolving systems

Alexander Stein*, Monica Salvioli*, Hasti Garjani*, Johan Dubbeldam, Yannick Viossat, Joel Brown, Kateřina Staňková

Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B, 2023

Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13235-025-00619-5

Co-authored publications

Public Goods Games in Disease Evolution and Spread

Christo Morison, Małgorzata Fic, Thomas Marcou, Javad Mohamadichamgavi, Javier Redondo Antón, Golsa Sayyar, Alexander Stein, Frank Bastian, Hana Krakovská, Nandakishor Krishnan, Diogo L. Pires, Mohammadreza Satouri, Frederik J. Thomsen, Kausutua Tjikundi, Wajid Ali

Dynamic Games and Applications, 2025

Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13235-025-00619-5

Selected presentations

Poster at the conference London Mathematical Biology Conference 09/2024, London (United Kingdom) of the project On the patterns of genetic heterogeneity in cancers before and after treatment.
Talk at the Conference for Mathematical Models in Ecology and Evolution 07/2024, Vienna (Austria) with the title On the properties of genetic intra-tumour heterogeneity before and after treatment
Talk at the seminar Modeling and Theory in Population Biology 05/2024, online with the title A mathematical analysis of the mutational landscape in cancer before and after treatment.
Poster at the conference Mutations in time and space 04/2024, Edinburgh (Scotland) of the project The ubiquity of clonal interference in cancer and other range expansions.
Talk at the seminar for the special issue of Royal Society Publishing Half a century of evolutionary games: a synthesis of theory, application and future directions 05/2023, Online presenting the paper Stackelberg evolutionary game theory: how to manage evolcving systems
Poster at the Conference Mathematical and Computational Methods in Cancer and Biology 03/2023, New York (USA) with the title Understanding the relationship between genetic intra-tumour heterogeneity and evolutionary therapies
Talk at the seminar for Integrated Mathematical Oncology 02/2023, Tampa (USA) with the title Exploring the relationship between genetic intra-tumour heterogeneity and evolutionary therapies
Talk at the Conference for Mathematical Models in Ecology and Evolution 07/2022, Reading (UK) with the title Intra-tumour heterogeneity during evolutionary therapies

Teaching and supervision

October 2024 - present: Ella Jones, (Australian) summer project (joint supervision with Maria Kleshnina)
July-September 2023: Ramanarayanan Kizhuttil, summer project resulting in a co-authored publication (joint supervision with Rob Noble)
Spring semester 2021: Private tutoring in (i) Data analysis for Biologists (ii) Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (iii) Statistics for Political Science
Autumn semster 2020: Introduction to Quantum Mechanics, Department of Physics, ETH Zurich
Spring semester 2020: Modelling of pedestrian flows (Modellieren von Fuss und Veloverkehr), Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering, ETH Zurich

Books that I like

Norman Bailey, The elements of stochastic processes (great introduction to branching processes)
Rick Durrett, Branching processes in cancer (summary of theory and applications of birth-death processes to cancer)
Martin Nowak, Evolutionary dynamics (motivated me to study evolution using maths)
Nicolas Bacaër, A short history of mathematical population dynamics (fun read introducing famous equations and a bit of their history)
Michael Hochberg, Editor's Guide to Writing and Publishing Science (recommended for beginning PhDs to learn about science culture)

Contact

Email: alexandersteinresearch@gmail.com

BlueSky: alexsteinresearch.bsky.social

Google scholar: Alexander Stein

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