Systems biology with Andrea Califano

In this behind the technique video, Andrea Califano, Professor of Systems Biology at Columbia University, New York, NY, USA,  discusses systems biology, its importance in cancer research and how it’s being used in precision medicine. Dr Califano also discusses his highlights from AACR 2019.

About the author:

Dr Andrea Califano is a pioneer in the field of systems biology and founding chair of the Department of Systems Biology at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. A physicist by training, Dr. Califano has taken innovative, systematic approaches to identify the molecular factors that lead to cancer progression and to the emergence of drug resistance at the single-cell level. Directing the conversation about cancer research away from focusing solely on gene mutations, Dr. Califano examines the complex and tumor-specific molecular interaction networks that determine cancer cell behavior. Using information theoretic approaches, analysis of these networks can precisely pinpoint master regulator proteins that are mechanistically responsible for supporting tumorigenesis and for implementing tumor cell homeostasis. Dr. Califano and his lab have shown that master regulators represent critical drivers and tumor dependencies, despite the fact that they are rarely mutated or differentially expressed, thus establishing them as a bona fide new class of therapeutic targets. Find out more about Andrea’s research here.

Original publication:

Video originally published on BioTechniques, a journal and digital platform from the Future Science Group providing the life science research community with an invaluable resource to access latest methods, techniques and protocols.