Computational Oncology

Computational Oncology is a semi-new phrase that is beginning to gain speed in medicine.  It may be surprising to some to find out that there are full departments being created at large medical institutions across the globe titled as such.  Institutions like Memorial Sloan Kettering, University of Texas, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, MD Anderson, DKFZ German Cancer Research Center, and more have departments in this area. Upon deeper examination, this two-word phrase evokes a full sense of the complexity surrounding healthcare, particularly the realm of oncology.  It speaks to the growth of the industry and expansion of medicine into a more multidisciplinary space. 

More and more time, energy, effort, and resources are being spent on determining how cancer develops and can then be eradicated from the body long term.  As with anything, the more information gained the better chances of creating lasting solutions.  Computational oncology focuses on the molecular aspects of cancer and utilizes mathematics and computational models to organize tumor growth pathways, tumor biology, bioinformatics, tumor marker profiles, and to develop predictive models for treatments based on all of this information.  Researcher Alan Lefor wrote that computational biology forges a new connection between oncology and the physical sciences. 

The Center for Computational Oncology's vision is to develop biophysical models of tumor initiation, growth, invasion and metastasis to establish a sound theoretical framework for describing the hallmarks of cancer and to use this knowledge to discover fundamental cancer biology and develop tumor-forecasting methods to optimize treatment and outcomes for the individual patient. 

The last half decade has seen an explosion in literature on mathematical and computational models of invasion of growth of tumors in living tissue. Particularly intriguing is the progress toward patient-specific treatments made possible by new predictive computer simulations. 

The reasons for this new potential in tumor growth models include: 

An increasing consensus in the medical science community on the principal mechanisms leading to various cancer types. 

New families of models based on a better understanding of the role of genetics in encoding proteins that form phenotypes and molecular alterations at the gene, cell and tissue level. These models could greatly increase our understanding of the origins and growth of cancer and new therapies to combat it. These advances have led to a flurry of new multi scale computational models that depict events at many spatial and temporal scales, from sub-cellular to cellular to tissue and organ levels. 

The gradual emergence of predictive medical sciences, which addresses in depth the actual validity and, equivalently, the predictability of various models in the presence of uncertainties. This vital discipline has come to the forefront because the indispensable data needed to calibrate and validate tumor growth models have only recently become available. 

The enormous advances in high-performance computing have brought into play an arsenal of new tools with great potential for developing realistic high-fidelity simulations of cancer cell behaviour. 

The Center for Computational Oncology is involved in active research in many of the foundations of modeling tumor growth and in accessing and employing relevant in vitro and in vivo data to calibrate and validate predictive models. 

Journal uses Editorial Tracking System for quality in review process. Editorial Manager is an online manuscript submission, review and tracking systems. Review processing is performed by the editorial board members of Orthopedics & Oncology or outside experts; at least two independent reviewer’s approval followed by editor approval is required for acceptance of any citable manuscript. Authors may submit manuscripts and track their progress through the system.

Journal Considers Research article, Review articles, editorial, letter, case reports, short communications, original articles from leading scientists and scholars around the world in all areas of related to Malignantosteoid, Multilobular tumour of bone, Chondrosarcoma, Chordoma, Osteosarcoma, Ewing's sarcomaetc., which come under the scope of the journal.

You may submit your manuscript as an e-mail attachment to the Editorial Office at  orthooncol@scholarlymed.com; joo@jpeerreview.org

Regards,

Stella

Editorial Team

Journal of Orthopedic Oncology