Definitions of information are often circular in nature. I present a new definition, rooted in the second law of thermodynamics, based on the requirements of replication and selection. The definition is remarkably simple, yet general enough to apply to both living and non-living systems. Crucially, it provides a scenario for the origin of information while predicting an increase of information with time. The underlying requirements for the continued existence and inevitable growth of information also imply that cancer is an inherent outcome of information’s existence. Much of this work was carried out in collaboration with Stirling Colgate.

The fluid phase of solid tumors is a clinical tool in personalized cancer care and an emerging research tool in basic science cancer discoveries. The Scripps Physics Oncology Center developed a set of tools for probing the fluid phase. The leading tool is the HD-CTC assay with which we are undertaking a series of clinical studies investigating the metastatic pathways in cancer patients. We are now coupling the experimental data with a theoretical framework for a more complete description of the disease progression.

Lung cancer, and more specifically non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), is the primary contributor to cancer related mortalities within the United States and accounts for the majority of lung cancers compared to the other subtypes. Due to limited choices in treatment (surgical resection, chemotherapy and radiation), significant work has identified unique genetic alterations within NSCLC tumors in hopes of utilizing this information to develop improved treatment modalities.

During inflammation, flowing leukocytes tether to and roll on activated endothelial cells, then decelerate and arrest before they emigrate into the underlying tissues. Interactions of selectins with glycosylated ligands mediate leukocyte rolling, a prerequisite for integrin-mediated deceleration and arrest.

Mayo Clinic is building proton therapy facilities in Rochester, Minnesota, and Phoenix, Arizona. These machines represent the state of the art of so-called “Bragg peak therapy,” in which the majority of the energy carried in a beam of charged particles is delivered in a small volume of tissue close to the penetration depth – a phenomenon discovered by William Bragg in 1903. In this talk I shall discuss recent advances in this technology, and how best to apply it to cancer patients.

The work from Dr. Bissell’s laboratory in the last three decades has led a field that is now central to the current recognition and acceptance of the importance of context/microenvironment and extracellular matrix (ECM) in regulation of gene expression,; and underscored the relationship of the ECM and microenvironment to the plasticity of both the differentiated state and tumors.

The most cost effective medical intervention in human history has been vaccination. Yet vaccines were largely developed by empirical testing and most consist of killed pathogen or crude parts. We were able to have huge impact without knowing much – only that the body has a system to be preconditioned for a later exposure to a disease

This seminar will review these risk factors and possible mechanisms responsible for their caustic nature, and will address current and future research strategies designed to overcome this disease.

Cancer continues to elude us. Metastasis, relapse and drug resistance are all still poorly understood and clinically insuperable. Evidently, the prevailing paradigms need to be re-examined and out-of-the-box ideas ought to be explored. Recently, has become acknowledged that transformative convergence of physical sciences with life sciences can bring forth new perspectives for addressing major questions and challenges relating to cancer. Drawing upon recent discoveries demonstrating the parallels between collective behaviors of bacteria and cancer, I will present a new picture of cancer as a society of smart communicating cells motivated by the realization of bacterial social intelligence.

Appropriately simulating the three dimensional (3-D) environment in which organs and tissues normally function is necessary for development of in vitro cultures that realistically resemble in vivo tissues and organs. For these reasons, the availability of reliable, reproducible 3-D organotypic cell culture models are being increasingly exploited for the meaningful dissection of human disease mechanisms, including those with an inflammation-mediated etiology, like infectious disease and cancer.