ZOOM ID: 709 120 4849 (ibsbimag) (pw:1234)

https://www.ibs.re.kr/bimag/event/2021-09-02/

Exploiting evolution to design better cancer therapies

SPEAKER : Alexander Anderson

https://moffitt.org/research-science/researchers/alexander-anderson/

This talk will be presented online. Zoom link: 709 120 4849 (pw: 1234)

Date&Time: September 2 @ 10:00 am - 11:00 pm KST

Abstract: Our current approach to cancer treatment has been largely driven by finding molecular targets, those patients fortunate enough to have a targetable mutation will receive a fixed treatment schedule designed to deliver the maximum tolerated dose (MTD). These therapies generally achieve impressive short-term responses, that unfortunately give way to treatment resistance and tumor relapse. The importance of evolution during both tumor progression, metastasis and treatment response is becoming more widely accepted. However, MTD treatment strategies continue to dominate the precision oncology landscape and ignore the fact that treatments drive the evolution of resistance. Here we present an integrated theoretical/experimental/clinical approach to develop treatment strategies that specifically embrace cancer evolution. We will consider the importance of using treatment response as a critical driver of subsequent treatment decisions, rather than fixed strategies that ignore it. We will also consider using mathematical models to drive treatment decisions based on limited clinical data. Through the integrated application of mathematical and experimental models as well as clinical data we will illustrate that, evolutionary therapy can drive either tumor control or extinction using a combination of drug treatments and drug holidays. Our results strongly indicate that the future of precision medicine shouldn’t be in the development of new drugs but rather in the smarter evolutionary, and model informed, application of preexisting ones.

Organizer : Jae Kyung Kim (jaekkim@kaist.ac.kr)

ZOOM ID: 709 120 4849 (ibsbimag) 

https://www.ibs.re.kr/bimag/event/2021-09-08/

Theory and design of molecular integral feedback controllers

SPEAKER : Helen Byrne

This talk will be presented online. Zoom link: 709 120 4849 (pw: 1234)

Date&Time: September 8 @ 5:00 pm-6:00 pm KST

Abstract: While the presence of immune cells within solid tumours was initially viewed positively, as the host fighting to riditself of a foreign body, we now know that the tumour can manipulate immune cells so that they promote, rather than inhibit,tumour growth. Immunotherapy aims to correct for this by boosting and/or restoring the normal function of the immunesystem. Immunotherapy has delivered some extremely promising results. However, the complexity of the tumour-immuneinteractions means that it can be difficult to understand why one patient responds well to immunotherapy while anotherdoes not. In this talk, we will show how mathematical, statistical and topological methods can contribute to resolving thisissue and present recent results which illustrate the complementary insight that different approaches can deliver.

Organizer : Jae Kyung Kim (jaekkim@kaist.ac.kr)

ZOOM ID: 709 120 4849 (ibsbimag) 

https://www.ibs.re.kr/bimag/event/2021-09-16/

Stochastic processes as scientific instruments: efficient inference

based on stochastic dynamical systems

SPEAKER : Aaron A. King

University of Michigan

https://kinglab.eeb.lsa.umich.edu/king/

This talk will be presented online. Zoom link: 709 120 4849 (pw: 1234)

Date&Time: September 8 @ 5:00 pm-6:00 pm KST

Abstract: Questions about the mechanistic operation of biological systems are naturally formulated as stochastic processes, but confronting such models with data can be challenging. In this talk, I describe the essence of the difficulty, highlighting both the technical issues and the importance of the “plug-and-play property”. I then illustrate some effective approaches to efficient inference based on such models. I conclude by sketching promising new developments and describing some open problems.

Organizer : Jae Kyung Kim (jaekkim@kaist.ac.kr)