Bioinformatics Seminar
Time: 11AM
Venue: Davis Auditorium and Teams
14 June 2022
Overcoming adaptive resistance and finding new treatments for cancer using integrative network modelling
Lan NguyenMonash University
It has become clear that cell signalling pathways do not act in isolation but they interplay via complex feedback and crosstalk mechanisms to form integrated networks. It is these networks that mediate how cells respond, as a whole, to perturbations such as growth-factor stimulations or drug treatments. To fully understand cell signalling and its complexity, this requires a move beyond studying isolated pathways and undertaking a more systematic and quantitative analysis of integrated signalling networks. We have been developing detailed computational models that capture the intricacies of these networks in both normal and cancer cells, and armed them with predictive power by training them with relevant experimental data. In this talk, I will show how we exploit these models and iterative modelling/experimental approaches to decipher cell-fate decision making. I will also demonstrate how modelling helps to elucidate mechanisms of adaptive resistance, a phenomenon where tumour cells become resistant to targeted drugs by rewiring signalling networks. Finally, I will show how we utilise this knowledge to predict and prioritise effective combinatorial treatment strategies for breast cancer, including sequential combination therapies.