Biological & Soft Matter Seminar: Understanding cancer phenomena using a thermodynamic-based approach

Abstract:

We seek to address fundamental questions in cancer biology by an experimental-theoretical approach based on physico-chemical laws. We have recently applied a thermodynamic-based information theoretic analysis, which has been previously applied to systems in chemistry and physics, to biological processes. We have shown that through the accurate resolution of the protein networks that deviate the cancer system from its balanced state, various biological phenotypes can be predicted. For example, we have demonstrated that using a thermodynamic based proteomic analysis in varying cell-cell distances, the direction of movement of brain cancer cells can be predicted and experimentally manipulated.

Here I present single cell and bulk proteomic methods integrated with thermodynamic-derived information theory and demonstrate how complex biological phenomena, such as cellular tumor architectures or inter-tumor variability can be modeled using a limited number of key physical parameters. Furthermore I will show how these parameters can be used to predict cellular architectures or to design high-precision, patient-specific drug cocktails. 

Seminar Organizer: Nimrod Segall