biPOD is a package to infer kinetic parameters of an evolving population whose size is observed at discrete intervals of time. The tool is able to:
- Infer growth rates and instant of birth of a population of cells when time windows and change points are known. This includes:
- Calculating exponential growth rates for different time periods (e.g., treatment phase, relapse phase)
- Determining the upper limit for the population’s birth time if growth is observed in the initial window
- Handling multiple time windows with predefined change points
- Identify optimal change points in population dynamics when these transition times are not known, by:
- Analyzing population size data to detect significant changes in growth patterns
- Computing the most likely moments when population behavior shifts
- Optimizing the placement of change points to best fit the observed data
- Analyze dual-population scenarios typical in treatment-to-relapse cases, characterized by:
- Inferring separate growth rates for resistant and sensitive cell populations
- Determining the birth time of the resistant population
- Calculating the death time of the sensitive population
- Modeling the characteristic U-shaped dynamics that emerge from the interplay between these populations
