POCATELLO — A new book published by an Idaho State University professor emeritus offers insights math can provide on cancer and its treatments.

The book published by Leonid Hanin is titled "Modeling Cancer Progression and the Effects of Treatment: Mathematical, Statistical and Computational Methodologies with Clinical Perspectives," according to a news release from ISU.

In his book, Hanin combines the different sides of cancer modeling with biomedical and clinical insights. It aims to understand cancer through mathematical modeling.

"Cancer cases among my friends, colleagues and families that I witnessed first-hand over the last quarter century gave me both motivation and food for thought," Hanin said in the news release. "The overarching goal of the book was to provide cancer patients with basic knowledge of cancer and the effects of treatment that would help them to ask the right questions, know when to seek a second opinion, and overall to develop more equitable partnerships with treating physicians."

Hanin was granted emeritus status in 2023. His research at ISU focused on mathematical modeling of biological processes as well as solving statistical problems in biomedical sciences.

Hanin said in the news release that working in his field allowed him to combine his two academic passions of math and biomedical sciences. He said despite the progress in the molecular understanding of cancer, it is still a challenge to treat.

"One reason is that there is a fundamental difference between solving problems in natural sciences or engineering and treating cancer," Hanin said in the news release. "The former problems, no matter how complex, are fixed in that they don't change when attempts are made to solve them. By contrast, cancer treatment can change in fundamental ways the course of the disease and often make it worse."

For more information about ISU's Department of Mathematics and Statistics, visit isu.edu/math.