The future of cancer research and the development of new therapeutic strategies rely on our ability to convert biological and clinical questions into mathematical models—integrating our knowledge of tumour progression mechanisms with the tsunami of information brought by high-throughput technologies such as microarrays and next-generation sequencing. Offering promising insights on how to defeat cancer, the emerging field of systems biology captures the complexity of biological phenomena using mathematical and computational tools. Novel Approaches to Fighting Cancer Drawn from the authors’ decade-long work in the cancer computational systems biology laboratory at Institut Curie (Paris, France), Computational Systems Biology of Cancer explains how to apply computational systems biology approaches to cancer research. The authors provide proven techniques and tools for cancer bioinformatics and systems biology research. Effectively Use Algorithmic Methods and Bioinformatics Tools in Real Biological Applications Suitable for readers in both the computational and life sciences, this self-contained guide assumes very limited background in biology, mathematics, and computer science. It explores how computational systems biology can help fight cancer in three essential aspects: Categorising tumours Finding new targets Designing improved and tailored therapeutic strategies Each chapter introduces a problem, presents applicable concepts and state-of-the-art methods, describes existing tools, illustrates applications using real cases, lists publically available data and software, and includes references to further reading. Some chapters also contain exercises. Figures from the text and scripts/data for reproducing a breast cancer data analysis are available at www.cancer-systems-biology.net.

The unprecedented amount of data produced with high-throughput experimentation forces biologists to employ mathematical representation and computation to glean meaningful information in systems-level biology. Applying this approach to the underlying molecular mechanisms of tumorgenesis, cancer research is enjoying a series of new discoveries and biological insights. Unique in its dualistic approach, this book introduces the concepts and theories of systems biology and their applications in cancer research. It presents basic cancer biology and cutting-edge topics of cancer research for computational biologists alongside systems biology analysis tools for experimental biologists.

The book shows how mathematical and computational models can be used to study cancer biology. It introduces the concept of mathematical modeling and then applies it to a variety of topics in cancer biology. These include aspects of cancer initiation and progression, such as the somatic evolution of cells, genetic instability, and angiogenesis. The book also discusses the use of mathematical models for the analysis of therapeutic approaches such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and the use of oncolytic viruses.

An overview of the current systems biology-based knowledge and the experimental approaches for deciphering the biological basis of cancer.

Praise for Computational Systems BiologyApproaches in Cancer Research: "Complex concepts are written clearly and with informative illustrations and useful links. The book is enjoyable to read yet provides sufficient depth to serve as a valuable resource for both students and faculty." — Trey Ideker, Professor of Medicine, UC Xan Diego, School of Medicine "This volume is attractive because it addresses important and timely topics for research and teaching on computational methods in cancer research. It covers a broad variety of approaches, exposes recent innovations in computational methods, and provides acces to source code and to dedicated interactive web sites." — Yves Moreau, Department of Electrical Engineering, SysBioSys Centre for Computational Systems Biology, University of Leuven With the availability of massive amounts of data in biology, the need for advanced computational tools and techniques is becoming increasingly important and key in understanding biology in disease and healthy states. This book focuses on computational systems biology approaches, with a particular lens on tackling one of the most challenging diseases - cancer. The book provides an important reference and teaching material in the field of computational biology in general and cancer systems biology in particular. The book presents a list of modern approaches in systems biology with application to cancer research and beyond. It is structured in a didactic form such that the idea of each approach can easily be grasped from the short text and self-explanatory figures. The coverage of topics is diverse: from pathway resources, through methods for data analysis and single data analysis to drug response predictors, classifiers and image analysis using machine learning and artificial intelligence approaches. Features Up to date using a wide range of approaches Applicationexample in each chapter Online resources with useful applications’

Systems biology combines computational and experimental approaches to analyze complex biological systems and focuses on understanding functional activities from a systems-wide perspective. It provides an iterative process of experimental measurements, data analysis, and computational simulation to model biological behavior. This book provides explained protocols for high-throughput experiments and computational analysis procedures central to cancer systems biology research and education. Readers will learn how to generate and analyze high-throughput data, therapeutic target protein structure modeling and docking simulation for drug discovery. This is the first practical guide for students and scientists who wish to become systems biologists or utilize the approach for cancer research.

Understanding Cancer from a Systems Biology Point of View: From Observation to Theory and Back starts with a basic question, why do we sometimes observe accelerated metastatic growth after resection of primary tumors? Next, it helps readers understand the systemic nature of cancer and how it affects treatment approaches and decisions. The book puts together aspects of cancer that many readers have most likely never combined, using unfamiliar, novel methods. It is a valuable resource for cancer researchers, cancer biologists, mathematicians and members of the biomedical field who are interested in applying systems biology methodologies for understanding and treating cancer. - Explains the systemic nature of cancer and how it affects decisions on treatment - Brings a variety of methods together, showing, in detail, the logical approach to finding answers to complex questions - Discusses the theoretical underpinnings of cancer as a systemic disease, providing the reader with valuable information on applicable cases

This edited reflects the current state of knowledge about the role of microRNAs in the formation and progression of solid tumours. The main focus lies on computational methods and applications, together with cutting edge experimental techniques that are used to approach all aspects of microRNA regulation in cancer. We are sure that the emergence of high-throughput quantitative techniques will make this integrative approach absolutely necessary in the near future. This book will be a resource for researchers starting out with cancer microRNA research, but is also intended for the experienced researcher who wants to incorporate concepts and tools from systems biology and bioinformatics into his work. Bioinformaticians and modellers are provided with a general perspective on microRNA biology in cancer, and the state-of-the-art in computational microRNA biology.

This comprehensively revised second edition of Computational Systems Biology discusses the experimental and theoretical foundations of the function of biological systems at the molecular, cellular or organismal level over temporal and spatial scales, as systems biology advances to provide clinical solutions to complex medical problems. In particular the work focuses on the engineering of biological systems and network modeling. - Logical information flow aids understanding of basic building blocks of life through disease phenotypes - Evolved principles gives insight into underlying organizational principles of biological organizations, and systems processes, governing functions such as adaptation or response patterns - Coverage of technical tools and systems helps researchers to understand and resolve specific systems biology problems using advanced computation - Multi-scale modeling on disparate scales aids researchers understanding of dependencies and constraints of spatio-temporal relationships fundamental to biological organization and function.

This book provides an entry point into Systems Biology for researchers in genetics, molecular biology, cell biology, microbiology and biomedical science to understand the key concepts to expanding their work. Chapters organized around broader themes of Organelles and Organisms, Systems Properties of Biological Processes, Cellular Networks, and Systems Biology and Disease discuss the development of concepts, the current applications, and the future prospects. Emphasis is placed on concepts and insights into the multi-disciplinary nature of the field as well as the importance of systems biology in human biological research. Technology, being an extremely important aspect of scientific progress overall, and in the creation of new fields in particular, is discussed in 'boxes' within each chapter to relate to appropriate topics. - 2013 Honorable Mention for Single Volume Reference in Science from the Association of American Publishers' PROSE Awards - Emphasizes the interdisciplinary nature of systems biology with contributions from leaders in a variety of disciplines - Includes the latest research developments in human and animal models to assist with translational research - Presents biological and computational aspects of the science side-by-side to facilitate collaboration between computational and biological researchers