CCBIO Special Seminar - Rameen Beroukhim

Apart from the interesting talks, the CCBIO seminars are a good way to meet CCBIO members and associates. Please feel free to inform others about this seminar as all are welcome.

Friday, November 3rd, 14.30, at the BBB, Auditorium 4

Speaker: Rameen Beroukhim, Department of Medical Oncology and Department of Cancer Biology, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA

Title: "Structural variations in the cancer genome"

Beroukhim's laboratory focuses on understanding the somatic genetics of cancer, primarily in identifying alterations in chromosomal structure (including copy-number gains and losses and loss of heterozygosity) that contribute to tumor growth, and characterizing the biological effects of these alterations. The aims of these experiments are to understand the biological basis of the various cancer subtypes to guide development of therapeutics, and to develop prognostic and predictive markers to guide the application of those therapeutics.

Much of their effort focuses on developing computational methods with general applicability to the study of the somatic genetics of cancer. An example is the Genomic Identification of Significant Targets In Cancer (GISTIC) algorithm, a statistical technique that distinguishes chromosomal alterations that are likely to drive tumorigenesis from alterations that may result from random chance alone. The group and their collaborators have used this approach across many thousands of cancers to identify novel oncogenes and tumor suppressors and to determine genetic interactions between them. They have also developed approaches to take advantage of vulnerabilities induced by copy-number changes, including through their effect on non-driver genes.

A separate focus of the lab has been understanding the genomics of brain cancers. They have multiple projects across adult and pediatric gliomas, meningiomas, brain metastases, and other tumor types.

Chairperson: Lars A. Akslen, CCBIO