Unlocking the cancer code: technology, data, and genetics
February 19, 2019
The “Unlocking the cancer code: technology, data, and genetics” presentation discusses what technology allows us to do today that we couldn’t do before. The more we learn, the more data that is generated and it’s fueling a global conversation about how to share data across the research community in a meaningful way. And, find out how genomics helped one patient ignite her passion for advocacy.
Presenters:
Lara Davis, M.D., assistant professor of medicine in the OHSU School of Medicine
OHSU physician-researcher Lara Davis specializes in caring for patients with sarcomas. Dr. Davis treats patients of all ages and has completed advanced training in both adult and pediatric oncology. She focuses exclusively on sarcoma in both the clinic and in the laboratory and is well-versed in standard of care treatments and clinical trials. Her laboratory is developing new therapeutic approaches for aggressive pediatric, adolescent, young adult and adult sarcomas.
Summer Gibbs, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical engineering in the OHSU School of Medicine
Summer Gibbs is a faculty member in OHSU’s Department of Biomedical Engineering. She also has appointments in the Knight Cancer Institute and OHSU Center for Spatial Systems Biomedicine. Her laboratory studies novel fluorescent probe development for improved macroscopic and microscopic imaging applications with special focus on tissue- and disease-specific fluorophores for image-guided surgery, methods for multicolor microscopy and fluorescent technologies to predict therapeutic efficacy for personalized medicine.
Shannon McWeeney, Ph.D., a professor and head of bioinformatics and computational biology in the OHSU School of Medicine
Shannon McWeeney is a statistical geneticist working at the intersection of computer science, biostatistics and genetics to develop approaches to solve research bottlenecks and novel ways to visualize and interpret information. She and her team developed a new data visualization platform called Vizome that can help facilitate accelerated biomedical translation and new breakthroughs as well as novel hypotheses for understanding and treating acute myeloid leukemia. The platform contributed to an OHSU-led effort that resulted in the largest cancer data set of its kind.
Nichol Miller, a cancer survivor and patient advocate
Nichol Miller, a 45-year-old mother of three, woke up one day and discovered a large knot in her leg. She was diagnosed with soft tissue sarcoma. Thanks to genomic testing, she learned that she tested positive for a genomic alteration called an NTRK gene fusion that was responsible for the growth and spread of tumors. Nichol was enrolled in a clinical trial for a breakthrough treatment targeting this genomic alteration that reversed the disease and ignited her passion for patient advocacy.