Engineering Advances in Cancer Treatment

Cancer is a group of diseases characterized by genetic and other abnormalities leading to an imbalance between cell growth and programmed cell death (apoptosis). Even with advances in broad-spectrum and targeted (antibody-based) therapeutics, successes against this challenging disease remain few and highly focused on particular cancers. Engineers have a significant role to play in advancing the treatment of cancer from the genetic to the systemic scale and across the experimental-computational spectrum. Keys to these contributions are recognition of the clinical state-of-the-art, as well as constraints, defining and limiting potential interventions. Starting from this discussion, speakers from academia, the government, and industry will discuss challenge problems and potential solutions to understanding, analyzing, and treating cancer.