Zach Schlamowitz

Research:  We wish to optimize the timing of mutli-drug cancer treatment. Certain cancer cells are particularly succeptible to a class of drugs known as EGFR inhibitors which can be thought of as "kill" drugs. However, these drugs are only effective during a particular window within a cell's repeating life cycle. Thus, another drug (a G1-cdk inhibitor) may be used in tandem to force cells to remain in that succeptible window, thereby "priming" them for treatment with the "kill" drug. However, drugs wear off at varying rates. Thus, we want to determine the optimal timing of treatment with the "primer" drug to maximize the efficacy of the "kill" drug. By converting this problem into a collection of mathematical equations, we can apply mathematical optimization techniques to solve this problem, with significant potential implications for clinical cancer treatment.