APPLIED MATH SEMINAR

Speaker: Dr. Fabio Parisi, School of Medicine - Pathology, Yale University

Title: Copy number analysis in tumor biopsies

When/where: Tuesday, January 25th, 4:15 PM, AKW 500

Abstract:

Tumors are dynamic aggregates of constantly evolving subclones. Certain subclones present at diagnosis may be associated with later occurring metastases or relapse after treatment. This dynamic heterogeneity introduces immense complexity for the identification of cancer biomarkers. Experiments such as SNP- or expression-arrays are based on averaging over all cells in the sample. The measured signal has to be deconvolved in order to solve the riddle of clonality. However, it is mathematically unfeasible to solve this deconvolution problem by standard approaches. Recently we started developing algorithms to identify subclones from complex mixtures. In silico simulations from cytogenetics data have shown promising results in melanoma and other types of cancers.