- Friday, November 6, 2015
- 1:30 PM–2:30 PM
- Science Building 010
Mitchell Machiela PhD, National Cancer Institute
The field of human genetics is an expanding, multi-disciplinary area of research with tremendous potential for uncovering novel factors associated with cancer risk and outcome. Recent advances in genotyping technology coupled with samples from large, international consortia have been instrumental in localizing hundreds of genetic regions associated with cancer. With the advent of publicly available resources and datasets, efforts are underway to bioinformatically fine map these regions to potential functional variants and molecularly characterize affected genes and pathways. This talk will highlight past and present genome-wide association studies conducted within our group at the National Cancer Institute’s Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics. In particular, we will discuss the process of conducting large genetic association studies, interpret findings from recent studies, highlight current opportunities for expanded research, and explore an example of how quality control issues have led to new insights into the aging of our genomes. Such advances in cancer genetics have provided fresh clues for the means of treatment and prevention of one of the world’s most deadly diseases.
