Exploratory Workshop on Math, Theory, and Cancer Biology
The NCI extensively supports applied math methods development and statistical methods develop, predominantly as software development research. However, mathematical theory development itself is less supported by NCI, despite cancer biology (both phenomena and data) providing complex and unique constraints that may prompt novel mathematical theory development and application toward cancer biology.
In order to understand the underlying mechanisms behind cancer initiation, development, and response to therapy, cancer researchers generate, analyze, and interact with vast amounts of data from across a wide variety of sources and biological scales. Performing data analyses, constructing mathematical models of complex biology, visualizing multi-scale datasets, and generating insights and “aha moments” requires an understanding of data bounds, embedded manifolds, and the transformations necessary to unravel biological knowledge.
On March 11 - 12, 2024 the NCI Division of Cancer Biology held the Exploratory Workshop on Math, Theory, and Cancer Biology, which explored manifold learning, topological data analysis, random matrix theory, high dimensional probability, and geometric measure theory, with an eye toward developing opportunities for expanded use and application of such areas in cancer biology research.
This goal of the meeting was to identify scientific and collaborative bridges between the communities of mathematical theory development and computational cancer biology research by bringing together mathematical theorists and cancer biologists from across various subfields.
Through talks, group discussions, and breakouts, the workshop addressed the following questions:
- What collaborative barriers and opportunities exist across mathematical theoretical methods development and cancer biology research?
- How can these communities more effectively find each other and collaborate?
- What are opportunities for NCI to address functional gaps (communication, education/research silos, pace of research) between these communities?
Documents from the Workshop
Recordings from the Workshop
Opening Remarks and Introduction
- Opening Remarks - Dave Miller, Ph.D. & Dan Gallahan, Ph.D. (NCI Division of Cancer Biology)
- Participant Introductions - Participants of the Workshop
- Introduction to the Workshop - Raul Rabadan, Ph.D. (Columbia University) & Shmuel Weinberger, Ph.D. (University of Chicago)
Session 1: Geometry & Topology I
- Learning Representations and Dynamics in Cancer - Smita Krishnaswamy, Ph.D. (Yale University)
- Geometric Measure Theory - Tatiana Toro, Ph.D. (Simons Laufer Mathematical Sciences Institute)
- Session 1 Discussion - Participants of the Workshop
Session 2: Cancer Data to Biological Knowledge
- Biomedical Data Science for Basic and Translational Cancer Biology Research - Sylvia Plevritis, Ph.D. (Stanford University)
- Theory: Some Places in IO Where it Maybe Helped - Ben Greenbaum, Ph.D. (MSKCC)
Session 3: Geometry & Topology II
- Topological Data Modeling - Gunnar Carlsson, Ph.D. (Stanford University)
- Topological Data Analysis and Data Visualization - Bei Wang Phillips, Ph.D. (University of Utah)
Session 4: Dynamics
- Evolutionary Therapy - Sandy Anderson, Ph.D. (Moffitt Cancer Center)
- Data Driven Dynamics for Multiscale Problems - Konstantin Mischaikow, Ph.D. (Rutgers University)
Session 5: Scale, High Dimensions, & Universality
- Various Aspects of Mathematical Modeling for Systems Biology at the Cellular Level - Padmini Rangamani, Ph.D. (UCSD)
- Dimension Reduction Methods, Random Energy Landscapes, and Surface Growth - Antonio (Tuca) Auffinger, Ph.D. (Northwestern University)
- Multiscale Modeling of Cellular Stress Responses - Carlos Lopez, Ph.D. (Altos Labs)
Discussion of Gaps, Opportunities, and Outlook
Social Media Related to the Workshop
Social media posts related to the meeting can be found using #Math4CancerBio.
DCB Contact for the Workshop
For additional information about the Exploratory Workshop on Math, Theory, and Cancer Biology, please contact Dr. Dave Miller.