Why Haven't We Cured Cancer" (Modeling the Effects of Cancer Stem Cells on Tumor Growth)

Abstract: The  stem  cell  hypothesis  states  that  cancerous  stem  cells  are  the  reason  that  tumors  grow  and  persist , and  proposes  targeting  treatments  towards  the  cancerous  stem  cells  instead  of,  or  in  addition  to,  the  standard  tumor  cells.  In this talk, we will discuss the different components of the mathematical modeling process that go into building a model for tumor growth and use our model to make predictions about the efficacy of various treatment options.