Breast cancer currently plagues more than 2 million women in the United States alone. Suhrit K. Dey, mathematics professor, is hopeful that one day no one will have to die from this disease.

Dey is currently working on a three-dimensional model to help fight breast cancer.

When the model, designed to solve 16 million mathematical equations, is complete, doctors treating a breast cancer patient will be able to plug data into it and determine the proper patient treatment, Dey said.

“This model will work the way a wind tunnel works to test air planes,” Dey said.

The goal is to prevent needless treatment, which often hinders a patient’s recovery and makes them more sick in the process, he said.

Dey, who is also working with his son Charlie, a scientific programmer in Champaign, said the project is expected to be completed in the next two to three years.

To help the project along, he recently received a $150,000 grant from NASA.

Before beginning work on the current project, Dey completed a one-dimensional mathematical model by using an existing reaction- diffusion equation and applying it to the flow of liquid in the body.

“The major cause of breast cancer is stress,” Dey said. “Stress weakens your immune system and makes you more susceptible to cancer.”

Cancer cells are present in the body all the time, but a healthy immune system destroys them before they become a problem.

“The mind and body work together,” he said. “So, it is important to take care of both.”

The three-dimensional model will also be able predict if an individual will get cancer and how their immune system could reverse the process of cancer with the proper chemicals, Dey said.

Dey said that because of the breast’s location on body, they are completely surrounded by T-Cells, which are the body’s natural defense against cancer.

The lymph glands, which are located down both sides of the body, and the Thymus, which produces T-cells, are located directly on top of the heart and are very close to the breast.

All of these prevent cancer, Dey said. If a body develops cancer, these glands do the work to kill cancer cells.

These T-Cells do not have to travel through the blood stream so they can go straight to the cancerous cells, Dey said.

Dey gave some tips for students to start preventing breast cancer early in life. Make sure to take plenty of vitamin C, see your doctor on a regular basis, relax, exercise, and most importantly make sure to laugh.

“Students should start now,” he said.