Ideas change everything

Math can help uncover cancer's secrets

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Irina Kareva |

TED@Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany

• December 2017

Irina Kareva translates biology into mathematics and vice versa. She writes mathematical models that describe the dynamics of cancer, with the goal of developing new drugs that target tumors. "The power and beauty of mathematical modeling lies in the fact that it makes you formalize, in a very rigorous way, what we think we know," Kareva says. "It can help guide us to where we should keep looking, and where there may be a dead end." It all comes down to asking the right question and translating it to the right equation, and back.

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Want to use TED Talks in your organization?

Irina Kareva translates biology into mathematics and vice versa. She writes mathematical models that describe the dynamics of cancer, with the goal of developing new drugs that target tumors. "The power and beauty of mathematical modeling lies in the fact that it makes you formalize, in a very rigorous way, what we think we know," Kareva says. "It can help guide us to where we should keep looking, and where there may be a dead end." It all comes down to asking the right question and translating it to the right equation, and back.

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About the speaker

Theoretical biologist

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Irina Kareva is looking for answers to biological questions using mathematical modeling.

Learn more

Understanding Cancer from a Systems Biology Point of View: From Observation to Theory and Back

Irina Kareva | Academic Press (2018)

Irina Kareva - *Understanding Cancer from a Systems Biology Point of View: From Observation to Theory and Back*

About TED Institute

Every year, TED works with a group of select companies and foundations to identify internal ideators, inventors, connectors, and creators. Drawing on the same rigorous regimen that has prepared speakers for the TED main stage, TED Institute works closely with each partner, overseeing curation and providing intensive one-on-one talk development to sharpen and fine tune ideas. The culmination is an event produced, recorded, and hosted by TED, generating a growing library of valuable TED Talks that can spur innovation and transform organizations.

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Irina Kareva: Math can help uncover cancer's secrets | TED Talk