Statistical Challenges and Opportunities in Defining, Modeling, and Targeting Cell State in Cancer

LORIN CRAWFORD – MICROSOFT/BROWN UNIVERSITY

ABSTRACT

Project Ex Vivo is a joint cancer research collaboration between Microsoft and the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard. Our group views cancers as complex (eco)systems, beyond just mutational variation, that necessitate systems-level understanding and intervention. In this talk, I will discuss a series of multimodal statistical and deep learning approaches to understand accurate representations of tumors by integrating genetic markers, expression state, and microenvironmental interactions. These representations help us precisely define and quantify the trajectory of each tumor in each patient. Our ultimate objective is to more effectively model cancer ex vivo – outside the body – in a patient-specific manner. In doing so, we aim to unlock the ability to better stratify patient populations and identify therapies that target diverse aspects of human cancers.