Abstract
Over the past half century, a worldwide research effort in cancer has yielded many advances in both our understanding of the disease, ability to diagnosis at an earlier stage, and in treatment. Nevertheless, despite these outputs, the outcome in the overall cancer mortality has only seen a modest reduction over this period. The complexity of the disease is evident in the dynamic and evolving course the disease takes during its progression and response treatment. Building on progress in the molecular sciences and advanced technologies, exploring the physical laws and principles that shape and govern the emergence and behavior of cancer at all scales may provide a complementary. This convergence of the physical sciences with cancer research perspectives can open up new areas of studies that address major questions and barriers in cancer research as well as support the development of clinical advances. The National Cancer Institute's Office of Physical Sciences-Oncology support researchers examining non-traditional approaches to cancer research by bringing a physical sciences perspective to explore four thematic areas, namely, the physical laws and principles of cancer; evolution and evolutionary theory of cancer; information coding, decoding, transfer and translation in cancer; and de-convoluting cancer's complexity. In this talk, examples of blending physical sciences perspectives on oncology will be presented to illustrate that fostering the development of innovative ideas and new fields of study could lead to a paradigm shift in the way we understand and ultimately and treat cancer.