The Delaney lab primarily studies copy-number alterations in cancer.
Oncogenesis is normally thought of a process that involves mutations within specific genes to drive tumor development and progression. However, bioinformatic analysis shows that about half of all tumors in certain types of cancer can have insufficient mutations to yield cancer. For example, 48% of serous ovarian cancers have a mutation in p53, a quintessential tumor suppressor gene, but no other mutation in over 120 characterized oncogenes and tumor suppressors. Yet, a full two-thirds of the average ovarian cancer genome has a copy number disparate from the normal 2N copy-number genotype; that is, two-thirds of the genome has an extra or a loss of an allele within a gene. Since few labs seek to understand how these alterations contribute to cancer biology, we help to fill that niche. Active project details are in the Research section.
Oncogenesis is normally thought of a process that involves mutations within specific genes to drive tumor development and progression. However, bioinformatic analysis shows that about half of all tumors in certain types of cancer can have insufficient mutations to yield cancer. For example, 48% of serous ovarian cancers have a mutation in p53, a quintessential tumor suppressor gene, but no other mutation in over 120 characterized oncogenes and tumor suppressors. Yet, a full two-thirds of the average ovarian cancer genome has a copy number disparate from the normal 2N copy-number genotype; that is, two-thirds of the genome has an extra or a loss of an allele within a gene. Since few labs seek to understand how these alterations contribute to cancer biology, we help to fill that niche. Active project details are in the Research section.
The lab’s goal is to understand:
1) Which copy-number alterations drive tumors
2) Which copy-number alterations can be targeted to improve therapy
3) How copy-number alterations form
1) Which copy-number alterations drive tumors
2) Which copy-number alterations can be targeted to improve therapy
3) How copy-number alterations form