Slashdot Mirror
Computer Simulation of Cancer Growth
Roland Piquepaille writes "For a long time now, researchers and scientists have used computer simulations in the physical sciences: physics, chemistry, and engineering. But what about biology? An international team of U.S. and Scottish mathematicians and biologists has built a math model to predict tumor behavior. The researchers say their approach is similar to the one used by weather forecasters. So far, this approach is entirely theoretical. But the scientists see their effort as the beginning of a new era in cancer research — 'a sea change in how biology is being done,' as the lead researcher described it. Read more for additional references and illustrations about this use of computer simulation to predict a cancer evolution."
Bioinformatics has been a growing area of research in Computer Science for over a decade now ...
Everything from developing algorithms to produce leafs/trees (for graphics) and to model pond-slime growth (for optimization problems) has been studied for awhile; hell, genetic algorithms and neural networks have been around for awhile.
Who said cancer was a chaotic system? Do very small changes in input parameters cause exponentially large deviations in output values? I doubt it. Cancer is probably difficult to simulate due to its complexity, not its chaoticness.
I've been hoping that eventually it will be possible to run a complete simulation of clinical research protocols long before any research participants are recruited. So this is very good news and a step in the right direction. Simulation cannot replace actual experimentation, but it can give you a very good idea of what to expect based on your theory which in the clinical sphere could have life saving potential.
To the making of books there is no end, so let's get started
For a long time now, researchers and scientists have used computer simulations in the physical sciences: physics, chemistry, and engineering. But what about biology?
But the scientists see their effort as the beginning of a new era in cancer research -- 'a sea change in how biology is being done,' as the lead researcher described it.
I've read papers on maths models of tumours that are decades old. Even more sophisticated models like the one the scientists have done, have been done to death in recent years, on everything from angiogenesis to metastasis (I should know, I wrote one). There's also a wealth of work done tying down theory and experiments with gene circuits in phages. So what is new about this work? Their results that Roland (who wouldn't know how to do a literature review if it bit him on the proverbial) lists:
The findings suggest that current chemotherapy approaches which create a harsh microenvironment in the tumor may leave behind the most aggressive and invasive tumor cells.
certainly aren't new. A model of invasiveness with different levels of agressiveness isn't new either. There model does give nice results on the phenotypes of cells that are selected for, and the ways it allows them to control the microenvironment are certainly cute.
In other news, an international team of U.S. and Scottish mathemeticians and biologists has built a computer simulation of the RIAA's business model.
I'm not that impressed. My computer can play the Goodfellas DVD, too.
Some attitudes replaced or by cgi optimizes