Meet Dr. Mingzhang Yin, a former IICD postdoctoral scholar now advancing the fields of marketing and artificial intelligence as an assistant professor at the University of Florida. Dr. Yin’s work bridges Bayesian statistics, machine learning, and quantitative marketing, with a focus on both theoretical innovation and real-world impact. Learn more about his academic journey and interdisciplinary research in this month’s Alumni Spotlight.

Dr. Sanja Vicković’s lab developed a new computational framework to investigate cell and tissue organization in pathology. Their work was recently published in Nature Biotechnology. This landmark paper presents a comprehensive spatial and cellular atlas of the aging colon, profiling ~1,500 mouse tissues and 400,000 nuclei across 11 age groups.

The Institute has launched a new collaboration with STEM Starters, a Columbia graduate student-led science outreach organization. Through free monthly events, STEM Starters offers hands-on science workshops for local elementary and middle-school students and their families in Harlem. This collaboration reflects IICD’s broader commitment to public engagement and science education, making science accessible at every age.

The Irving Institute for Cancer Dynamics at Columbia University offers a 10-week research opportunity for talented undergraduate students to perform cutting-edge research at the intersection of cancer biology and mathematical sciences. Areas of research span from cancer biology to computer science, mathematics, statistical bioinformatics, engineering, and more. Deadline to apply is February 1, 2026.

Columbia Researchers:
Join us on November 19 (2-5 pm) for the inaugural session of the From Theory to Practice: IICD Workshop Series: a hands-on Quantitative Immunology Workshop led by Dr. Sanket Rane. This workshop will focus on establishing foundational quantitative approaches for understanding and modeling the complexity of our immune system. Deadline to apply is November 17.