Some Motivating QuestionsThis is a featured page

The following are intended to be answered or at least commented on. Please use the Thread feature at the bottom of the page for this.

If you have questions that you'd like to add, please do so on this page directly using the Easy Edit button at top.


Big Picture

  • To what extent is genetic mutation a "normal" part of multicellular life? If it were possible to eliminate or eradicate mutation completely, could the human organism continue to function, or is mutation somehow necessary for an individual organism?

  • On a macro level, is cancer an adaptive trait of multicellular organisms? For instance, after the age of reproduction isn't there selective pressure to die so as not to compete with offspring?

  • If we were somehow able to inhibit motility in cells that are shown to be both prolific and invasive, does this then by definition stop metastasis? Are there normal/essential processes that would be halted too?

  • How do the various levels of organization in biology play into cancer formation?

  • Is the micro-evolutionary process the entire story or do we need to study other complex systems models? What models are deserving of more attention than they are getting (even amongst complexity thinkers)?


Treatment, Prevention & Cure

  • Counter to the standard medical model, toxicity effects appear to be non-linear (c.f. Counterintuitive Toxicity article attached). Relatedly, in Henry Heng's work and others (c.f. Unintended Consequences article attached) there is mounting evidence that the use of chemo and other standard therapies may actually promote metastasis. What does all this mean for cancer treatment?

  • Given the role of micro-evolution in cancer, and given that this seems to be at the root of the seemingly limitless complexity of the problem, are there ways we can use the power of evolution to advantage? Can we evolve cures specific to each individual?

  • Are there any well-proscribed computational problems that could be attacked via a peer-to-peer effort like SETI@Home? Are there any problems that would lend themselves better to a "crowdsourcing" approach like Amazon's Mechanical Turk?

  • Scattered advances in detection (c.f. Visualizing Cancer article attached) and treatment (c.f. Express Delivery article attached) are being made which seem applicable to the pattern detection and targeting methodologies such as the one proposed by Arny Glazier. How far are we from being able to effectively and specifically detect and target cancerous patterns?

  • What do you think of the "apoptosis approach"? Scientific merits aside, what can we learn from their visual presentation of cancer biology to help explicate evolutionary/complexity concepts better?

  • What could existing databases tell us about cancer if analyzed with emerging technologies such as Google Maps and Yahoo! Pipes?


Societal Issues and Factors

  • As a society we spend billions each year on cancer research, yet the data shows no real progress since 1950(!), despite what the public is lead to believe. How come there isn't more public knowledge of the truth and more outrage? How can we get people to wake up to the reality?

  • What are the incentives to NOT cure cancer? E.g. do drug companies really want to cure cancer or are they better off promoting it and coming up with life-extending treatments that bring them a long-term recurring revenue stream?

  • Why do some demographic groups (e.g. Hispanics) do better in combating cancer than others?

  • How do the metaphors we use (such as "war on cancer") affect the approaches to the challenges of prevention, research and treatment?

  • Underserved communities are the hardest hit by cancer, yet addressing problems in the hardest hit communities will necessarily help all communities. Why then is funding and attention focused in just the opposite direction?


Scientific Methodology and Biases

  • The Placebo effect is well documented as accounting for 20 - 40% of the positive result of any therapeutic remedy for disease. The mind-body connection has also been positively correlated with curing cancer (c.f. Cancer Yoga article attached) as well as other diseases (c.f. Sniffle-Busting Personalities article attached). How come there hasn't been more research into the mechanisms of Placebo as well as the application of mind-body techniques to cure cancer in scientific settings?

  • Why are cases of spontaneous remission not researched more seriously? If we were to consider the notion that these people are not being cured by the chemo or other techniques that were being applied, what does this say about the nature of the disease? What about people who eschew traditional Western remedies and are able to achieve remission?

  • How do our various cognitive biases in reacting to disasters affect our view of the cancer problem? For instance, our reactions to natural disasters (like hurricanes) are very different than to chronic conditions, which is different than to infectious disease, etc.



Rafe.Furst
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Adobe Portable Document Format temporal gene expression.pdf (Adobe Portable Document Format - 478k)
posted by drasnick   Feb 16 2008, 6:01 PM EST
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Adobe Portable Document Format optimal differential expression.pdf (Adobe Portable Document Format - 214k)
posted by drasnick   Feb 16 2008, 6:01 PM EST
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Adobe Portable Document Format species comparisons.pdf (Adobe Portable Document Format - 588k)
posted by drasnick   Feb 16 2008, 6:00 PM EST
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Adobe Portable Document Format Cancer Yoga.pdf (Adobe Portable Document Format - 102k)
posted by Rafe.Furst   Dec 5 2007, 2:56 PM EST
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Adobe Portable Document Format Counterintuitive Toxicity.pdf (Adobe Portable Document Format - 163k)
posted by Rafe.Furst   Dec 5 2007, 2:55 PM EST
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