Researcher

    Morgan Craig , Ph.D.

    morgan.craig@umontreal.ca
    Morgan Craig
    Research Axis
    Immune Diseases and Cancer Axis

    Phone
    514-343-7471

    Online

    Title

    • Assistant Professor, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, Université de Montréal (2018)
    • Adjunct Professor, Department of Physiology, McGill University (2018)
    • Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Program for Evolutionary Dynamics, Harvard University (2016-2018)

    Education

    • PhD (Pharmaceutical Sciences), Université de Montréal (2016)
    • MSc (Applied Mathematics), University of Manitoba (2011)
    • BSc (Mathematics and Chemistry), Université de Saint-Boniface (2006)

    Laboratory

    Quantitative and Translational Medicine Laboratory

    Research Interests

    The Quantitative and Translational Medicine Laboratory focuses on the application and implementation of quantitative approaches, particularly computational biology, to study biologically-relevant questions of large medical importance, with a particular emphasis on the optimization of treatment strategies for a variety of diseases. Dr Craig’s current projects include understanding pre-leukemic hematopoietic stem cell dynamics, PBPK/PD models of antiretroviral drugs to support the design of a novel sustained-release delivery device for improved HIV treatment design and HIV cure strategies, unravelling immunological networks during rare diseases, and quantifying the impact of heterogeneity in glioblastoma, melanoma, and non-small cell lung cancer tumours on resistance pathways and ultimate therapy success. Dr. Craig’s research is highly multidisciplinary and is conducted in close collaboration with experimentalists and clinicians.

    Research Topics

    • Computational biology
    • Mathematical modelling
    • Hematology
    • Immunotherapies
    • Evolutionary dynamics
    • Cancer/genetic heterogeneity
    • Pharmacokinetics/pharmacodynamics
    • HIV

    Career Summary

    Dr. Craig received her PhD in Pharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Montreal in 2016, during which she studied the optimization of prophylactic G-CSF support to mitigate neutropenia during periodic chemotherapy. During her postdoctoral fellowship at the Program for Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard University, she worked to develop an integrated in silico platform to predict virologic outcomes of conventional and proposed highly-active antiretrovial therapy  (HAART) for pre-exposure prophylaxis and anti-HIV treatment. She joined the Department of Mathematics and Statistics at the University of Montreal in 2018. Her work focuses on understanding pathophysiological mechanisms and treatment optimization in a variety of cancers and hemato-immune diseases. She joined the CHU Sainte-Justine Research Centre in 2020.

    Awards and Distinctions

    • Prix Lee A. Segal (junior), Society for Mathematical Biology, 2018.

    Major financing

    1. Principal Investigator: Characterization of disrupted hematopoiesis by mathematical modelling, Discovery Grant, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, 2018-2023.
    2. Principal Investigator: Characterization of disrupted hematopoiesis by mathematical modelling, Discovery Launch Supplement, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, 2018-2023.

    Presentations

    1. Heterogeneity in cancer: understanding mechanisms of resistance to improve therapy. McGill Quantitative Life Sciences Seminar Series, McGill University, Montréal, QC, Canada. 2019.
    2. Plenary: Novel physiological mechanisms revealed through mechanistic modelling of granulopoiesis guides the optimization of chemotherapy regimens. Society for Mathematical Biology Annual Meeting, Montréal, QC, Canada. 2019.
    3. Revealing causal hemato-immune regulatory networks from longitudinal immunoassay data. CAIMS Annual Meeting, Whistler, BC, Canada. 2019.
    4. Optimal individualized combination immunotherapy/oncolytic virotherapy determined through in silico clinical trials improves late stage melanoma patient outcomes. University of Manitoba Department of Mathematics Colloquium, Winnipeg, MB, Canada. 2019.
    5. Transit compartment and delay models: what can we learn from generic modelling approaches to granulopoiesis and myelosuppression? 2nd Annual Buffalo QSP Symposium, Buffalo, NY, USA. 2018

    Publications

    PubMed

    1. T. Cassidy, M. Craig. Determinants of combination GM-CSF immunotherapy and oncolytic virotherapy success identified through in silico treatment personalization. Submitted to: PLOS Computational Biology 15(11):e1007495 (Special Issue on Targeted Anticancer Therapies and Precision Medicine in Cancer). 2019.
    2. M. Craig, K. Kaveh, S. Chen, E. Eton, A. Dhawan, D. Goldman, A. Kazuya, M. Rahman, M.A. Nowak, A. Goldman. Cooperative adaptation to therapy (CAT) confers resistance in heterogeneous tumors.  PLOS Computational Biology 15(8):e1007278. 2019.
    3. T. Cassidy, M. Craig, A.R. Humphries (2019). Equivalences between age structured models and state dependent distributed delay differential equations. Mathematical Biosciences and Engineering 16(5):5419-5450. 2019.
    4. N. Pillai, M. Craig, A. Dokoumetzidis, S.L. Schwartz, R. Bies, I. Freedman. Chaos synchronization and Nelder-Mead search for parameter estimation in nonlinear pharmacological systems: Estimating tumor antigenicity in a model of immunotherapy. Progress in Biophysics and Molecular Biology, 139:29-30. 2018.
    5. A.R. Kirtane, O. Abouzid, D. Minaham, T. Bensel, A.L. Hill, C. Selinger, A. Bershteyn, S.S. Mo, M. Craig, H. Mazdiyasni, C. Cleveland, J. Rogner, Y-A. Lee, L. Booth, F. Javid, T. Grant, A.M. Bellinger, B. Nikolic, A. Hayward, L. Wood, P.A. Eckhoff, M. A. Nowak, R. Langer, and G. Traverso. Development of an oral once-weekly drug delivery system for HIV antiretroviral therapy. Nature Communications, 9(1):pp. 12. 2018.
    6. D. Câmara De Souza*, M. Craig*, T. Cassidy, J. Li, F. Nekka, J. Bélair, and A. R. Humphries. Transit and lifespan in neutrophil production: implications for drug intervention. Journal of Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics, 45(1):59-77. 2018. [*=Co-first authors]
    7. G.P. Langlois, M Craig, A.R. Humphries, M.C. Mackey, J.M. Mahaffy, J. Bélair, T. Moulin, S.R. Sinclair, and L. Wang. 2017. Normal and pathological dynamics of platelets in humans. Journal of Mathematical Biology, 75(6-7):1141-1462. 2018.
    8. M. Craig. Towards quantitative systems pharmacology models of chemotherapy-induced neutropenia. CPT: Pharmacometrics & Systems Pharmacology, 6(5):293-304. 2017.
    9. M. Craig, A.R. Humphries, and M.C. Mackey. An upper bound for the half-removal time of neutrophils from the blood. Blood, 128(15):1989-1991. 2016.
    10. M. Craig, A.R. Humphries, and M.C. Mackey. A Mathematical model of granulopoiesis incorporating the negative feedback dynamics and kinetics of G-CSF/neutrophil binding and internalization. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 78(12):2304-2357. 2016. 
 

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