2/16 – Tin Nguyen, University of Nevada, Reno

This is an in-person event in room SEO 1000 on East campus.  You can also watch seminar live here>>

Speaker:

Tin Nguyen
Assistant Professor
University of Nevada, Reno

Title:

An Integrative Approach for Cancer Subtype Discovery and Risk Prediction

Abstract:

Cancer is an umbrella term that includes a range of disorders, from those that are fast-evolving and lethal to indolent lesions with low potential for progression to death. In recent decades, important clinical advances in cancer treatments have been attributed to molecular subtyping and targeted treatments aiming at specific genes. However, a significant percentage of patients do not respond to targeted therapies or develop resistance over time. This implies that current methods for tumor characterization and therapeutic interventions are not sufficiently accurate. Our research laboratory aims to develop novel technologies able to better differentiate among patients with the same cancer diagnosis. Fundamental to our personalized analysis approach is the capability to explain why patients with similar cancer diagnoses can greatly differ in terms of treatment success. The proposed techniques also include a methodology to effectively integrate multiple types of data. This work will enhance our ability to distinguish among patients who are in immediate danger and need the most aggressive treatments and those whose disease will progress slowly. This will lead to reduced health care costs and personal suffering while improving patient care by identifying the correct personalized treatment for each patient. This research will pave the way for future projects in identifying clinically applicable biomarkers that can be used in diagnosis, risk prediction, and monitoring treatment response and outcome.