News
‘In Search of Chemozoa’ – finalist in major competition
Congratulations to Boredomresearch! In Search of Chemozoa is a finalist for the SCINEMA International Science Film Festival (a project of the Royal Institution of Australia) in the experimental/animation category. The film festival is the largest of its kind in the...
Next Cancer and Nature of Life
We have postponed our August event due to many universities still being on summer break. Our next meeting will be in October. Details to follow soon!
Transmissible Cancer in Mammals -Watch recording here
Cancer and the Nature of Life Series. Friday 13 May 2022, Noon AZ and Pacific time. Please join us! Brief Abstract: Cancer arises when mutations drive cells of the body to abandon their usual functions and to instead embark upon a “selfish” evolutionary program...
ACE advocate’s story of bringing art and her cancer experience together
Erin McGee Ferrell's has interwoven art with her own cancer journey. Read about it in the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship Newsletter!
Celebrating Gregor Mendel’s bicentenary
Gregor Mendel is known as the father of genetics who was born 200 years ago in July 1822. His life as a catholic Abbott and meticulous studies with pea plants are described in this radio documentary by ACE's Pauline Davies
Cancer and the Nature of Life Series – Michael Metzger’s talk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uaec1ETs0hE&t=4s Watch to discover the latest findings on cancer cells that behave like free-living organisms! Brief abstract: Cancer is not normally contagious, but in some cases, cancer can jump from one individual to another. In...
Evolutionary Biology and Ecology of Cancer Summer School 2022 – Applications open
Applications are open for the Evolutionary Biology and Ecology of Cancer Summer School 2022, taking place between June 13-17, 2022 at the Wellcome Genome Campus, UK.Students will have the opportunity to explore various modelling techniques (e.g. agent-based, game...
The Electric Life of Cancer – watch this amazing video
This is the second episode of our monthly ‘Cancer and the Nature of Life’ series. Mike Levin from Tufts University does an amazing job with ‘The Electric Life of Cancer’.
Cancer Garden creation described in ‘Leonardo’
A paper describing the background to the creation of Endless Forms Most Beautiful, the cancer cactus garden at Arizona State University, has appeared in the arts/science journal, Leonardo. Read about the unique collaboration between of the landscape architect, the...
Watch Cancer and the Nature of Life Series
See this amazing talk: 'The Electric Life of Cancer' presented by Mike Levin with commentator, Paul Davies. Brief abstract: People once believed electricity was the spark of life. Now it’s been discovered that electrical effects do in fact help shape bodies and...
Events

Coffee at Beyond: The Multicellular Symphony – Cooperation, conflict, cancer and chimeras across the tree of life
3pm January 27 2021, Biodesign Auditorium Dr Steffi Kapsetaki Open to all.
Public Lecture: From Fish to FOMO
ACE, The Center for Evolution and Medicine, and the Biodesign Institute are delighted to host Dr. Barbara Natterson-Horowitz for a public lecture on Thursday, January 16, 2020, 5 - 6:00 pm. The talk, titled From Fish to FOMO: How Social Media and the Ancient “Biology...

KJZZ Interview with Athena Aktipis and Carlo Maley – Cactus Garden and Cancer Adaptive Therapy
KJZZ’s Mark Brodie talks to Athena Aktipis and Carlo Maley in the cancer cactus garden at ASU. They discuss how strangely-formed, crested cacti (fasciated) not only look amazing but are reminiscent of cancer, reminding us that that the disease is present in all multi-cellular life. Aktipis and Maley’s research is pointing the way to clinical trials of ‘adaptive therapy’ for metastatic cancer, whereby ‘nicer’ cancer cells are deliberately kept alive to keep the ‘nasties’ in check – a potentially more effective treatment than aggressive chemotherapy.

View Public Lecture by Susan Rosenberg PhD – Why Cancers (and Infections) Beat Us and How to Turn the Tables, Apr. 25th
Outwitting cancer’s ability to evolve drug resistance requires a deep grasp of the mechanisms of evolution. A recent discovery that cells can control their own mutations looks set to transform cancer therapy.

Tracing the deep Evolutionary Roots of Cancer workshop
Mon-Wed, April 23-25, 2018 Scottsdale. Cancer represents a breakdown in the regulatory mechanisms that mediate the relationship between individual cells and the organism as a whole, a relationship that dates back to the dawn of multicellularity over a billion years...