All cancers originate from a single cell that undergoes a transformation from a normally functioning somatic cell into a malignant neoplasm. In most cases, this transformation follows a stepwise process with the somatic cell first expanding into a precancer and, subsequently, becoming an advanced invasive cancer. The progression from a pre-malignant tumor to a malignant neoplasm is due to somatic mutations that can be traced, characterized, and genomically studied. In this rotation, the student will evaluate the mutational burden, driver mutations, copy number changes, mutational signatures, and subclonal architecture of pre-malignant lesions and compare them to molecular events previously identified in advanced invasive cancers. The goal is to reveal the molecular events that are necessary for a precancer to convert into cancer. Independent previously generated drug-screen datasets (e.g., Cancer Cell Line Encyclopedia) will be used to propose potential intervention strategies that can used to target these molecular events in order to halt this conversion and lead to cancer prevention.
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