Florida Atlantic: Revolutionizing Cancer Treatment

Wazir Muhammad, Ph.D., assistant professor in the Department of Physics in Florida Atlantic University’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science, received a $701,000 grant from Precess Medical Derivatives, Inc., for a project that aims to revolutionize cancer treatment by making it more personalized and effective.

The project, "Deciphering Digital Twins of Cancer Patients for Personalized Treatments," uses artificial intelligence to analyze data and enhance cancer characterization and treatment to improve patient outcomes. It will help to address the challenges of data quality, complexity and integration into clinical workflows.

The three-year project will require a large, coordinated effort among physicians, radiologists, medical physicists, modelers, clinicians, computational scientists and software engineers to create a prototype of a dynamic digital twin for cancer patients. The digital twin will use observational data to represent the patient’s current state and predict future transitions. It will combine simulation, model inference, data assimilation and highperformance computing to connect scales and processes. "Using personal health data, genetic information about the tumor, and patient treatment and follow-up data, digital twins will simulate diagnoses and treatment options to help physicians choose the most effective treatments and monitor responses over time," Muhammad said. "The goal of the model is to provide optimized treatment plans, aid diagnosis and follow-up, and draw on patients’ data including health history, cancer histology, genomic and molecular profiling, prior treatment history, and radio-sensitivity index to improve patient outcomes."

The American Cancer Society estimates more than 2 million new cancer cases in 2024. Approximately 50% of all cancer patients in the U.S. receive radiation therapy as part of their treatment regimen.

"This consequential grant awarded to Dr. Muhammad is an important investigation into the development of personalized radiation treatment and will serve to empower health care providers to tailor therapies to each patient’s unique cancer profile," said Valery Forbes, Ph.D., dean of the College of Science. "This novel approach holds promise to enhance treatment efficacy as well as minimize side effects, ultimately improving outcomes and quality of life for individuals battling cancer."