Live via Zoom

Mathematical modeling and genomics of cancer networks: applications to drug resistance and transcriptional reprogramming

How does the intracellular network of cancer cells give rise to the changes in cell state that lead to drug resistance and transcriptional reprogramming? In this talk, I will tell you about how we have tackled this question using approaches from the fields of systems biology (by iterating mathematical models and experiments), mathematical modeling / network theory (by developing computational methods to analyze models), and cancer genomics (by analyzing multi-omic datasets with rich clinical annotations). In particular, I will talk about three projects, one for each of these approaches. In the first, we built and experimentally tested a model of the signaling network underlying resistance to PI3K-alpha inhibitors in breast cancer. In the second, we developed a network theory framework to identify controller nodes in a mathematical model. In the third, we identified genomic and transcriptomic drivers of resistance to CDK4/6 inhibitors in metastatic breast cancer. Finally, I will give a brief overview of my proposed research program on leveraging both mathematical modeling and cancer genomics to study drug resistance in breast cancer.

Host: Dr. Greg Gibson