The Department of Mathematics & Statistics is proud to announce the 38th Annual Ostrom Lecture. The Annual Theodore G. Ostrom lecture brings internationally renowned mathematics scholars to the Pullman campus each spring, in honor of Emeritus Ostrom who retired from WSU in 1981 after 21 years on faculty.
The lecture this year will be presented by Dr. Fred Adler, Professor of Mathematics and Biology and Director of the Center for Quantitative Biology at University of Utah.
Title: An ecological perspective on cancer
Abstract: New techniques for studying single cells have revealed that cancer is more than a series of genetic mutations that create a cell that divides uncontrollably, but a more complex process where tumor cells differ from each other and modify the behavior of non-cancerous cells around them. Complex processes like this have long been the realm of ecologists, who study the messy interactions between organisms and their environments. There is growing interest in using an ecological perspective to better understand cancer design treatments. I take the perspective that the body, like essentially everything in biology, is a self-organized system, meaning that it operates through local rules without centralized control. Through a series of self-organized systems from ecology, ant colonies, viruses and cancer, we will discuss the marvelous ways that they are regulated, and how this regulation is susceptible to rare but deadly subversion and breakdown.
The 2019 Lecture will be held on Wednesday, April 10, at 7 p.m. in SPARK G45. A cake reception will follow in Neill Hall 216. The lecture and reception are free and open to the public!
Please contact the Department of Mathematics and Statistics with any questions!
