CEDSS: “Building a Scalable Clinical Genomics Program: How tumor, normal, and plasma DNA sequencing are informing cancer care, cancer risk, and cancer detection”
Elizabeth and Felix Rohatyn Chair & Associate Director of the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Molecular Oncology
Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center
Zoom Details
Meeting URL: https://stanford.zoom.us/s/92559505314
Dial: US: +1 650 724 9799 or +1 833 302 1536 (Toll Free)
Meeting ID: 925 5950 5314
Passcode: 418727
11:00am – 12:00pm Seminar & Discussion
RSVP Here
ABSTRACT
Tumor molecular profiling is a fundamental component of precision oncology, enabling the identification of oncogenomic mutations that can be targeted therapeutically. To accelerate enrollment to clinical trials of molecularly targeted agents and guide treatment selection, we have established a center-wide, prospective clinical sequencing program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center using a custom, paired tumor-blood normal sequencing assay (MSK-IMPACT), which we have used to profile more than 50,000 patients with solid tumors. Yet beyond just the characterization of tumor-specific alterations, the inclusion of blood DNA has readily enabled the identification of germline risk alleles and somatic mutations associated with clonal hematopoiesis. To complement this approach, we have also implemented a ‘liquid biopsy’ cfDNA panel (MSK-ACCESS) for cancer detection, surveillance, and treatment selection and monitoring. In my talk, I will describe the prevalence of somatic and germline genomic alterations in a real-world population, the clinical benefits of cfDNA assessment, and how clonal hematopoiesis can inform cancer risk and confound liquid biopsy approaches to cancer detection.
ABOUT
Michael Berger, PhD, holds the Elizabeth and Felix Rohatyn Chair and is Associate Director of the Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Molecular Oncology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, a multidisciplinary initiative to promote precision oncology through genomic analysis to guide the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. He is also an Associate Attending Geneticist in the Department of Pathology with expertise in cancer genomics, computational biology, and high-throughput DNA sequencing technology. His laboratory is developing experimental and computational methods to characterize the genetic makeup of individual cancers and identify genomic biomarkers of drug response and resistance. As Scientific Director of Clinical NGS in the Molecular Diagnostics Service, he oversees the development and bioinformatics associated with clinical sequencing assays, and he helped lead the development and implementation of MSK-IMPACT, a comprehensive FDA-authorized tumor sequencing panel that been used to profile more than 60,000 tumors from advanced cancer patients at MSK. The resulting data have enabled the characterization of somatic and germline biomarkers across many cancer types and the identification of mutations associated with clonal hematopoiesis. Dr. Berger also led the development of a clinically validated plasma cell-free DNA assay, MSK-ACCESS, which his laboratory is using to explore tumor evolution, acquired drug resistance, and occult metastatic disease. He received his Bachelor’s Degree in Physics from Princeton University and his Ph.D. in Biophysics from Harvard University.
Hosted by: Utkan Demirci, Ph.D.
Sponsored by: The Canary Center & the Department of Radiology
Stanford University – School of Medicine
CEDSS: The First Cell: A new model for cancer research and treatment
Azra Raza, M.D.
Chan Soon-Shiong Professor of Medicine
Director, Myelodysplastic Syndrome Center
Columbia University Medical Center
Location: Zoom
Meeting URL: https://stanford.zoom.us/s/99340345860
Dial: US: +1 650 724 9799 or +1 833 302 1536 (Toll Free)
Meeting ID: 993 4034 5860
Passcode: 711508
ABSTRACT
Cancer research continues to be predicated on a 1970’s model of research and treatment. Despite half a century of intense research, we are failing spectacularly to improve the outcome for patients with advanced disease. Those who are cured continue to be treated mostly with the older strategies (surgery-chemo-radiation). Our contention is that the real solution to the cancer problem is to diagnose cancer early, at the stage of The First Cell. The rapidly evolving technologies are doing much in this area but need to be expanded. We study a pre-leukemic condition called myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) with the hope that we can detect the first leukemia cells as the disease transforms to acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Towards this end, we have collected blood and bone marrow samples on MDS and AML patients since 1984. Today, our Tissue Repository has more than 60,000 samples. We propose novel methods to identify surrogate markers that can identify the First Cell through studying the serial samples of patients who evolve from MDS to AML.
ABOUT
Dr. Raza is a Professor of Medicine and Director of the MDS Center at Columbia University in New York, NY.She started her research in Myelodisplastic Syndromes (MDS) in 1982 and moved to Rush University, Chicago, Illinois in 1992, where she was the Charles Arthur Weaver Professor in Oncology and Director, Division of Myeloid Diseases. The MDS Program, along with a Tissue Repository containing more than 50,000 samples from MDS and acute leukemia patients was successfully relocated to the University of Massachusetts in 2004 and to Columbia University in 2010.
Before moving to New York, Dr. Raza was the Chief of Hematology Oncology and the Gladys Smith Martin Professor of Oncology at the University of Massachussetts in Worcester. She has published the results of her laboratory research and clinical trials in prestigious, peer reviewed journals such as The New England Journal of Medicine, Nature, Blood, Cancer, Cancer Research, British Journal of Hematology, Leukemia, and Leukemia Research. Dr. Raza serves on numerous national and international panels as a reviewer, consultant and advisor and is the recipient of a number of awards.
Hosted by: Utkan Demirci, Ph.D.
Sponsored by: The Canary Center & the Department of Radiology
Stanford University – School of Medicine