Description

This activity maps to the OpenStax biology textbook, 10.4 Cancer and the Cell Cycle.

Student Introduction: The cell cycle is divided into four stages: Gap 1, DNA synthesis or S-phase, Gap 2, and mitosis. When modelling the growth of a population of cells, it is commonly useful to assume that every individual cell doubles with every cell cycle, i.e. the daughter cells themselves divide upon completion of the next cell cycle. This is typically expressed as an exponentially growing population (see Cell Division in the Presence of a Growth Factor and Cell Division). However, in many circumstances, not all the daughter cells divide, and the rate of population growth can be affected. For example, tumor growth rate is less than that of normal cells due to the considerable loss of cells and the fact that only a fraction of the cancerous cells are dividing.

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