This workshop aims to showcase the state-of-the-art mathematical and computational models that are in use in mathematical oncology, with a particular focus on the fourteen hallmarks of cancer. New modeling challenges arise from these hallmarks. Some of the hallmarks relate to the characteristics of the cancer cells themselves (sub-cellular and cellular level), while others include more global effects such as blood circulation, the immune response, the effect and role of the microenvironment, mechanical forces, and the microbiome. Matching the biological diversity of the cancer hallmarks, is the diversity of mathematical approaches and techniques that have been used and are in use to give insight into the growth and spread of cancer – for example, continuum and discrete models; ordinary and partial differential equation models; individual-based and agent-based models; hybrid models; deterministic and stochastic approaches; analytical and computational approaches. Many of these processes act on very different spatial and temporal scales. Hence a new integrated multiscale mathematical modeling framework is needed to include new aspects and insights, such as spatial stochastic models and local and non-local partial differential equation models.

 

Each day of the workshop, we will focus on one particular biological scale of the hallmarks of cancer. The daily program will consist of one key-note speaker along with a number of contributed talks, and a daily open-forum discussion session among all participants.