Spotlight

The IICD Hosts a Mathematical and Computational Methods in Cancer and Biology Symposium

By
Lorenza Favrot
March 28, 2023
Simon Tavare presenting in front of a podium

The Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics (IICD) recently hosted its first in-person symposium since March 2020, with 100 people in attendance. The event occurred on March 16th-18th, 2023, on the Morningside Heights campus of Columbia University. The three-day event highlighted the importance of mathematical and computational sciences and technological developments in driving fundamental discoveries in cancer biology and many other biological fields.

The symposium also celebrated two milestones: Simon Tavaré’s 70th birthday and the 5th anniversary of the Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics. Arash Jamshipdey and Poly Hannah da Silva, two associate research scientists at the Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics, came up with the idea of the symposium and took part in the organization committee over the last year.

Simon Tavaré opened the symposium, followed by opening remarks by Jeannette Wing (Executive Vice President for Research, Columbia University), Michael Waterman (University Professor Emeritus, University of Southern California), and Anil Rustgi (Director of the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center, Columbia University).

The conference featured thirty-one speakers spanning five sessions, including cancer, population genetics & evolution, computational biology, mathematics and probability, and statistics. The complete program can be found on the symposium page. Speakers included IICD researchers, longtime collaborators, and current and former lab members of Simon Tavaré. A current IICD graduate student or postdoctoral research scientist chaired each session.

From left to right and top to bottom: Jellert Gaublomme presenting in front of an audience sitting at round tables, people sitting at round tables, people standing up and discussing while eating, people at a poster session

Speakers shared many fond memories about how they met Simon Tavaré or how they became involved in the Institute. Samuel Aparicio, Canada Research Chair, University of British Columbia, and IICD Affiliate Member, summarized the conference as: “Hearing fantastic science arising from the enormous influence of Simon Tavaré in cancer biology.”

To further the celebrations, a reception and a poster session took place on Friday evening in the Skyline Dining Room at Faculty House, overlooking Harlem and the Morningside Park. Students, postdoctoral and research scientists from various universities presented posters spanning diverse topics, including mathematical modeling, single-cell technologies, and more.

Check out our live tweeting thread here.

Check out the pictures from the symposium here (photo credit: Timothy Lee).