Thursday, July 23rd, 2020
11:00 a.m. - 12:00 noon
Online Zoom Seminar - Email Qixuan Wang to request the link.
Abstract: Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells are an exciting and challenging therapy for cancer in which T-cells are extracted from the patient, engineered to recognize cancer cells, and injected back into the patient. Because CAR T-cells are a "living" therapy, with their own dynamical properties, such as proliferation, migration, exhaustion, and potential for interaction with non-cancerous cells in the body, CAR T-cell therapy is an intriguing nonlinear dynamical system. In this talk, I will show how we integrate mathematical modeling with in vitro and in vivo preclinical studies to optimize the dose, timing, and sequence of CAR T-cell therapies for a range of clinical settings, including combination therapies. The emphasis of this informal talk will be on opportunities for collaborations between investigators at City of Hope and UC Riverside.
Bio: Dr. Rockne is Assistant Professor and Director of the Division of Mathematical Oncology in the Department of Computational and Quantitative Medicine at City of Hope. Dr. Rockne’s research lies at the interface of precision medicine, data science, and mathematical modeling. Dr. Rockne’s research approach uses mathematical models to connect data from multiple modalities and scales to predict cancer growth and response to therapy. Dr. Rockne has made contributions to mathematical model parameterization and applications, with patented algorithms as well as first and senior author level peer reviewed publications in the field of Mathematical Oncology. Dr. Rockne partners with scientists and clinicians at City of Hope to bring mathematics into the clinic to help improve outcomes for patients with cancer.