Alex K. Shalek, PhD
Pfizer-Laubach Career Development Associate Professor
Institute for Medical Engineering & Science
Department of Chemistry and Koch Institute
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abstract: While several methods exist for sampling tissues in clinical contexts, without high-fidelity tools for comprehensively profiling them, we are both limited in our capacity to understand how constituent cells and their interactions impact prognosis, and to select and develop precision therapeutics. Recent years have witnessed transformative and intersecting advances in nanofabrication and molecular biology that now enable deep profiling of low-input samples. Collectively, these afford new and exciting opportunities to study cellular heterogeneity, starting from the level of the single cell, and may unlock the diagnostic, prognostic, and discovery potential of clinical isolates. Illustratively, I will introduce how we can leverage single-cell genomic approaches – and, in particular, single-cell RNA-Seq – to explore the extensive functional diversity between cells, uncovering, from the “bottom-up,” distinct cell states and their molecular drivers. Moreover, I will discuss high-throughput experimental strategies and demonstrate, in the context of Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia, how they can be leveraged to achieve the statistical power necessary to reconstruct intracellular circuits, enumerate and redefine cell states and types, and transform our understanding of cellular decision-making in health and disease on a genomic scale.
Bio: Alex K. Shalek is currently the Pfizer-Laubach Career Development Associate Professor at MIT, as well as a Core Member of the Institute for Medical Engineering and Science (IMES), an Associate Professor of Chemistry, and an Extramural Member of The Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research. He is also an Institute Member of the Broad Institute, an Associate Member of the Ragon Institute, an Assistant in Immunology at MGH, and an Instructor in Health Sciences and Technology at HMS. His research is directed towards the development and application of new technologies that facilitate understanding of how cells collectively perform systems-level functions in healthy and diseased states. Dr. Shalek received his bachelor’s degree summa cum laude from Columbia University and his Ph.D. from Harvard University in chemical physics under the guidance of Hongkun Park, and performed postdoctoral training under Hongkun Park and Aviv Regev (Broad/MIT). To date, his interdisciplinary research has focused on realizing and utilizing nanoscale manipulation and measurement technologies to examine how small components (molecules, cells) drive systems of vast complexity (cellular responses, population behaviors).
Stanford Radiology Diversity Initiative
Diversity is essential to the progress, growth, and prosperity of Medicine and its microcosmoses. The Stanford Radiology Diversity Initiative aims to democratize Medicine by assembling and maintaining a critical mass of diverse faculty with far-reaching backgrounds, experiences, and ideas. Diversity is critical for our ability to serve patients in a multi-cultural environment, to provide inspiring role models for our trainees, to unfold discoveries at the interface of different disciplines, to address challenges in our health care system and to cure humanity – one patient at a time.
11:00am-12:00pm – Panel Discussions
12:00pm-1:00pm – Grand Rounds
1:00pm-2:30pm – Diversity Food Fair
2:30pm-3:30pm – Imposter Syndrome Workshop
3:30pm-4:30pm – SMAC symposium
View event details – http://med.stanford.edu/radiology/events/diversity-fair.html
Abstract: Gene editing with CRISPR technology is transforming biology. Understanding the underlying chemical mechanisms of RNA-guided DNA and RNA cleavage provides a foundation for both conceptual advances and technology development. I will discuss how bacterial CRISPR adaptive immune systems inspire creation of powerful genome editing tools, enabling advances in both fundamental biology and applications in medicine. I will also discuss the ethical challenges of some of these applications with a focus on what our decisions now might mean for future generations.
About: MIPS IMAGinING THE FUTURE seminar series is aimed at catalyzing interdisciplinary discussions in all area of medicine and disease. The seminar series is open and free to everyone in the Stanford community, as well as anyone from the surrounding community, companies or institutions. Our next seminar will host Dr. Jennifer Doudna, Professor of Chemistry, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, &Li Ka Shing Chancellor’s Professor in Biomedical and Health, University of California, Berkeley; for her presentation on the “World of CRISPR: Editing Genomes and Altering Our Future”.
More Information: http://med.stanford.edu/radiology/imagining-the-future.html
Register: https://www.onlineregistrationcenter.com/JenniferDoudna
PHIND Seminar Series October: ‘Progression of Clonal Hematopoiesis of Indeterminate Potential to Acute Myeloid Leukemia’
Ravi Majeti, MD, Ph.D.
Professor of Medicine
Chief, Division of Hematology
Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine
Stanford University
Munzer Auditorium (B060), Beckman Center
11:00am-12:00pm – Seminar and Discussion
12:00pm-12:15pm – Reception (light refreshments provided)
RSVP Here: https://www.onlineregistrationcenter.com/register/222/page1.asp?m=298&c=39
ABSTRACT: Myeloid malignancies are cancers of the blood lineage including myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN), myelodysplastic syndromes (MDS), and acute myeloid leukemia (AML) with more than 40,000 new diagnoses annually in the United States. These diseases cause significant morbidity and mortality due to associated bone marrow failure leading to anemia, bleeding, and infections, and are currently treated with targeted therapies, chemotherapy, and allogeneic bone marrow transplantation. Next generation DNA sequencing has determined the spectrum of mutations associated with these cancers and has found that most cases are associated with multiple mutations that cooperate to cause disease. In our prior studies, we determined that these mutations are serially acquired in clones of self-renewing pre-cancerous/pre-leukemic blood stem cells. Separate studies analyzed blood sequencing data from large cohorts of individuals without disease and found these pre-leukemic mutations occur in the general population with increasing frequency and incidence with age. As only a minor subset of these individuals eventually progressed to develop myeloid malignancy, this entity was termed clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential (CHIP). One major issue with implications for the transition from health to disease is to understand what factors influence the progression from CHIP to myeloid malignancy. In order to investigate this question, we have developed models for CHIP/pre-leukemia through the CRISPR-mediated engineering of normal human blood stem and progenitor cells. By introducing mutations in the TET2 and ASXL1 genes that are commonly mutated in CHIP, we have established models for the cell intrinsic processes of progression to myeloid malignancy and are now poised to examine cell extrinsic processes that can affect such progression. Establishing these models is key to investigating measures to eventually prevent development of myeloid malignancy.
Cancer Early Detection Seminar
“Best Practices in Hip Imaging”
Michael Shen, PhD
Professor of Medicine, Genetics and Development, Urology and Systems Biology
Columbia University Medical Center
ABSTRACT
TBD
_____________________________________________
Hosted by
Sanjiv Sam Gambhir, MD, PhD<https://med.stanford.edu/profiles/sanjiv-gambhir>
Sponsored by
The Canary Center and the Stanford Cancer Institute
Stanford University
If you would like to be included on the email distribution list for weekly reminders, contact Ashley Williams (ashleylw.at.stanford.edu)
RSVP and more info at: https://www.onlineregistrationcenter.com/register/222/page1.asp?m=298&c=41
PHIND Seminar Series November: ‘ What You Always Wanted to Know about Economics, Payer Coverage, and Big Data for Precision Health – But Were Afraid to Ask’
Kathryn Phillips, Ph.D.
Professor of Health Economics
Founding Director of the UCSF Center for Translational and Policy Research on Personalized Medicine (TRANSPERS)
Department of Clinical Pharmacy
UCSF
Li Ka Shing Center, LK101
11:00am-12:00pm – Seminar and Discussion
12:00pm-12:15pm – Reception (light refreshments provided)
RSVP Here: https://www.onlineregistrationcenter.com/KathrynPhillips
ABSTRACT: Precision Health offers an opportunity to achieve “high value care” through innovative approaches. However, in order to fulfill this objective, we must demonstrate its economic value, someone must be willing to pay the costs, and there has to be data available to provide the needed evidence. In this talk, I will draw on my research over the past decade examining (1) how to measure the value of complex technologies such as Precision Health, (2) what payers cover and how they decide to provide coverage, and (3) how Big Data can be leveraged. I will also describe “lessons learned” about successful adoption from working with dozens of start-ups, VCs, and biotech companies. The talk will illustrate these issues using the case study of “liquid biopsy” – a potentially transformative technology that illustrates both the opportunities and challenges for Precision Health.
Integrative Biomedical Imaging Informatics at Stanford (IBIIS) and Center for Artificial Intelligence in Medicine & Imaging (AIMI) Seminar: “AI-Aided Diagnostic and Prognostic Tools for Prostate Cancer”
Okyaz Eminaga, MD, PhD
Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Urology
Biomedical Data Sciences
Stanford University
James H. Clark Center, S360
12:00pm-1:00pm – Seminar and Discussion (light refreshments provided)
Join via Zoom: https://stanford.zoom.us/j/613898274
ABSTRACT: Prostate Cancer exhibits different clinical behavior, ranging from indolent to lethal disease. A critical clinical need is identifying characteristics that distinguish indolent from advanced disease to direct treatment to the latter. The recent renaissance of artificial intelligence (AI) research uncovered the potential of AI to improve clinical decision making. In this seminar, we will go through the potential of AI to enhance the diagnosis and the prognosis of prostate cancer using magnetic resonance images, clinical data, and histology images. We will stress the challenges and benefits of having such AI-based solutions in clinical routine.
ABOUT: Dr. Eminaga passed his medical examination (Staatsexamen) 2009 and received his Ph.D. in Medicine 2010 from University of Muenster (major topic: medical informatics) under the supervision of Professor Dr. Axel Semjonow (one of the pioneer physician-scientists and biomarker researcher who worked on the standardization of PSA measurement for prostate cancer which is used nowadays) and Professor Dr. Martin Dugas (who is the head of European Research Center for Information Systems and one of the most influential professors in medical informatics in Europe). For those who don’t know the institute of medical informatics in Muenster. The systematized Nomenclature of Human and Veterinary Medicine (SNOMED), which is now used worldwide in medical information systems, was initiated by this institute more than 30 years ago.
His doctoral dissertation presented a novel documentation architecture for clinical data and imaging called cMDX (clinical map document) that facilitates the concept of the single-source information system for clinical data storage and analysis, and is successfully used in clinical routine for generating the pathology reports with graphical information about the spatial tumor extent for prostatectomy specimens since 2009 at the prostate center of University Hospital Muenster. This work has been also utilized for more than 20 studies related to genomics, translational medicine, epidemiology, urology, radiology, and pathology. Dr. Eminaga also established the biobanking information management system to manage the samples of one of the largest biobanks for prostate cancer in Europe. This biobank is also part of the European P-Mark network for prostate cancer-related biorepositories initiated by Oxford University.
Dr. Eminaga completed his residency in Urology in the University Hospital of Cologne (Germany) with a major focus on uro-oncology. He was also a research fellow in Prostate Center of University Hospital Muenster, doing research in biomarkers, biobanking infrastructure, epidemiology and histopathology. During his residency fellowship, he further evaluated the role of certain miRNA in prostate cancer development under the supervision of the molecular biologist Dr. Warnecke-Eberz. After his residency, he started a research scholarship at the laboratory of Dr. Brooks, doing genomic research and bioinformatics for research topics related to prostate cancer evolution. Now, his current interests have expanded to statistical learning, medical imaging informatics, and integrative data analysis.
He is the recipient of 3 highly-competitive scholarships and his works have been recognized at national and international levels e.g., by the European Association of Urology. Currently, he is an early-investigator research awardee for prostate cancer managed by the department of defense and works on developing decision-aided tools for diagnosis and prognosis of prostate cancer.
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http://ibiis.stanford.edu/events/seminars/2019seminars.html