Download seminar poster
Talk Title :
Genomic approaches for defining heterogeneity in cancer cells
Date / Time / Location:
Thursday September 23rd, 2010 – 5:00 pm
Due to unforeseen events, this meeting has been CANCELLED
Affiliation :
Scripps Institute
URL
Samuel Levy
Abstract :
The precise definition of somatic mutations in the genomes of cancer cells requires both the acquisition of accurate DNA sequence and specific interpretation of mutational events from resulting analytic approaches. We have applied both of these methods to address two lines of enquiry. In the first instance we seek to match existing drug therapies with detected mutations by characterizing mutations in genes and ascertaining the impact of mutations in biological pathways. This approach has revealed multiple mutations in the activated RAS pathway with some potential approaches to reduce oncogenic activation using existing experimental therapies. In the second instance, we sought to determine the extent of somatic heterogeneity in a solid tumor mass in order to ascertain how it might impact the molecular diagnosis of a tumor. Using a targeted sequencing approach to assay all the coding regions of ~17,000 genes we were able to determine changes in somatic mutations in relation to the particular locus sampled within a single colon tumor.