Recurrent Repeat Expansions in Cancer

This June, our webinar features Dr. Gamze Gürsoy from the New York Genome Center. Dr. Gürsoy’s group has identified tandem repeat expansions in cancer genomes across 29 cancer types, revealing recurrent repeat expansions (rREs) that are subtype-specific. They found that these rREs, which are non-uniformly distributed in the genome and often located near regulatory elements, could play a role in gene regulation and contribute to genetic variation in human cancer. They further validated a set of rREs using long-read sequencing and developed small molecules targeting an intronic rREs that showed decrease in cell proliferation.

More about the speaker

Gamze Gürsoy, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Departments of Biomedical Informatics and Computer Science at Columbia University. She is also a core member at New York Genome Center. Dr. Gürsoy’s lab’s overarching research goal is to harmonize diverse fields such as biology, bioinformatics, molecular biology, engineering, and cryptography to achieve two fundamental aims:

(1) to increase biomedical data access to a wider group of scientists while preserving privacy of research participants; and

(2) to uncover the molecular underpinnings of gene dysregulation via knowledge gained from functional genomics data.

Dr. Gürsoy leads a group of computational and experimental scientists, creating opportunities for training in cross-disciplinary studies in her lab.