Ellison Institute of Technology Insights Forum

Save the date for our next Insights Forum!

Thursday, June 6, 2024

Past Insights Forum Recordings

WHAT ADVANCED TECHNOLOGIES WILL REVOLUTIONIZE MEDICAL RESEARCH AND CARE — AND WHY?

February 2024
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Our panel of experts consider which advanced technologies have the potential to revolutionize the treatment and prevention of cancer and other complex diseases.

IS CANCER A DISEASE OF DYSFUNCTIONAL COMMUNICATION AND DYSREGULATED INFORMATION?

August 2023
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Our panel of experts envision a future in which information theory is more broadly adopted in cancer research and consider the intriguing idea that cancer is, in reality, a disease of dysregulated information and dysfunctional communication.

WILL AI REVOLUTIONIZE CANCER TREATMENT, DIAGNOSIS, AND PREVENTION?

June 2023
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Our experts explore the state of numerous efforts to apply AI to cancer, what to expect in terms of potential advances (or not) during the next decade and beyond, and what we should fear, if anything?

PROGRESS AGAINST THE MOST LETHAL CANCERS

February 2023
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Why are improvements in survival not occurring in some of the most lethal cancers? Are advances in the molecular sciences and approaches, such as immunotherapy, that are driving precision medicine impacting death rates in metastatic cancers?

IMMUNOTHERAPHY

December 2022
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If cancer immunotherapy is the answer to improving treatment or even curing or preventing most cancers, what are the research imperatives at this point? Are we doing enough to address these imperatives? If not, why not, and how can that be remedied?

WHAT ARE WE MISSING IN OUR 50-YEAR QUEST TO FUNDAMENTALLY UNDERSTAND & CONTROL CANCER

September 2022
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Cancer is complex. It is a complex adaptive system, but is it irreducibly complex? If not, what are we missing that could enable progress? Our panel of experts explored this question and provided their insights.

PRECISION ONCOLOGY: SEPARATING HOPE FROM HYPE

May 2022
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 Where, how, and why is precision oncology working predictably and well?
Where and why is precision oncology not working well – or at all?
What is needed for all cancer patients to have access to efficacious precision
oncology in the future?

EARLY CANCER DETECTION & PREVENTION:
THE NEW FRONTIER

February 2022
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Are we on the cusp of a revolution in cancer? Is early detection of cancer the new frontier in cancer progression–or not? If so, what will be required (e.g., intervention strategies/technologies) to achieve needed changes in all sectors? If not, could very early detection of pre-cancer “signals” create unprecedented challenges?

INFORMATION THEORY

October 2021
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If cancer is a dynamic information-driven complex adaptive system, what steps must be taken to shift from studying its “parts” vs. decoding and decrypting the information we need to identify and understand the flow of information and the logic of the system?

THE PHYSICS OF CANCER

July 2021
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In the context of the convergence of the physical sciences with cancer biology, is research in the physical sciences clinically relevant? What will it take to advance promising areas of the physical sciences to solve critical questions in cancer that could lead to clinical breakthroughs?

DECONVOLUTING CANCER COMPLEXITY

May 2021
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We are awash in data from cancer patients, but if data are not information, what and where is dysregulated cancer information, how do we collect it and is it critical for the diagnosis and treatment of cancer?

REVOLUTIONIZING CANCER TREATMENT THROUGH EVOLUTIONARY THEORY

March 2021
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How could applying specific principles of evolution / evolutionary theory (and ecology) across biological and temporal scales of cancer revolutionize treatment strategies, reduce resistance, and improve patient outcomes?

PRECISION MEDICINE FOR COVID-19

January 2021
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 Can we use the precision cancer medicine model to inform and improve the diagnosis and prevention of COVID-19 infections and treatment of the disease(s) it causes?