http://nautil.us/blog/the-problem-with-the-mutation_centric-view-of-cancer
> How should we study the origins of cancer? > > My lab has been researching the origins of cancers for the last 15 to 17 > years. We’re trying to understand cancer from an evolutionary viewpoint, > understanding how it evolves. A lot of people think about cancer from an > evolutionary viewpoint. But what sets us apart is that we’ve really come to > understand cancer by the context these cells find themselves in. > > What’s an example of such a context? > > While other people will think about aging as the time for mutations to cause > advantageous events [for cancer] in cells, we see aging as a very different > process. It’s not about the time you get mutations—you get many mutations > when you’re young. It’s the tissue environment for the cells that changes > dramatically as we age. Those new tissue environments basically stimulate the > evolution. So the evolution isn’t a process that’s limited by the mutation so > much as a process that is limited by micro-environment changes. -- ␦glen? ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com FRIAM-COMIC http://friam-comic.blogspot.com/ by Dr. Strangelove
