The Society for Mathematical Biology Annual Meeting and Conference, July 25-28, 2012
SMB 2012 Minisymposia
MS30: Emergence of resistance in cancer and bacteria-can we beat them at their game? - July 28, 11:40-1:20 p.m. SESSION K
Organizers: David Basanta (Integrated Mathematical Oncology, H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center & Research Institute, Tampa, FL, USA); Jacob Scott (Centre for Mathematical Biology, Oxford, UK)
Presenters: Robert Bonomo, Daniel Nichol, Steffen Schaper, Benjamin Werner
Summary. One of the most significant hurdles found in successfully treating both bacterial infections and cancer is that these diseases acquire resistance to the treatments they are subjected to. Resistance can be mediated by the microenvironment, preexisting in the bacterial and tumour population or evolve as genetic and epigenetic alterations confer some cells the capacity to survive and proliferate in the presence of a treatment. Mathematical and computational models can help to identify the mechanisms by which bacterial populations and tumours become resistant and investigate the best combinations and scheduling of treatments that would hinder the emergence of resistance. In this mini symposium we aim to bring together some of the leading researchers in the field and learn about how mathematical models, developed in collaboration with experimentalists and clinicians and validated experimentally and clinically, can be used to gain insight on the mechanisms that lead to bacterial and tumour resistance to therapies.
