The resonance phenomenon in population persistence: can the same theory guide both national security policies and personalized medicine?

The theory of resonance in population persistence proposes that the survival of a population that is exposed to externally inflicted loss processes (disturbances) during part of its life cycle is dependent on the relation between the average period of the disturbances and the average generation time of the population. This suggests that the size of a population can be controlled by manipulating the period between external disturbances. This theory, first formalized in a study of intertidal Red Sea mollusks exposed to periodic storms, has been found to apply to such seemingly disparate phenomena as the spread of a pathogen among susceptible individuals and the response of malignant cancer cells to chemotherapy. The current article provides a brief review of the evolution of the resonance theory into a tool that can be applied to designing vaccination policies – specifically, in preparedness for bio-terrorism attacks – and in personalized medicine. A personalized protocol based on the resonance theory was applied to a cancer patient, stabilizing his tumor progression, relieving his hematopoietic toxicity, and extending his survival.