Stem cell dynamics in the intestine and stomach

In adult tissues, stem cells undergo clonal competition because they proliferate while the stem cell niche provides limited space. This clonal competition allows the selection of healthy stem cells over time as unfit stem cells tend to lose from the competition. It could also be a mechanism to select a supercompetitor with tumorigenic mutations, which may lead to tumorigenesis. I am going to explain general concepts of clonal competition and how a simple model can explain the behaviour of adult stem cells. I will also show how geometric constraints affect the overall dynamics of stem cell competition.