Sofia John

Sofia John

Mentor

Dr. Meghan Ferrall-Fairbanks

College

UF Health Cancer Center

Major

Statistics

Minor

Women's Studies

Organizations

Dream Team

Academic Awards

Dean’s List, Presidents Honor Roll, University Scholars Program

Volunteering

UF Health Shand’s Children’s Hospital, Alachua County Victim Services and Rape Crisis Center

Research Interests

Tumor Microenvironment, Cancer, Mathematical Modeling

Hobbies and Interests

Traveling, Hiking, Watching Shows

Research Project

Mathematical Model of Bladder Cancer

Bladder cancer is the fifth most common malignancy in Europe and the United States that accounts for 65,084 deaths in the world annually. One of the greatest challenges in treating bladder cancer is the heterogeneity in patient responses given standard therapy regimens. I am currently working on a project that seeks to develop a mathematical model of the phenotypic properties of bladder cancer cells and their response to the standard of care Bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) therapy. We are also examining specific genetic markers associated with immunogeneity and proliferation to determine if these genes have predictive ability in determining the efficacy of BCG therapy as well as developing alternative treatment scheduling of BCG through in silico model simulations.