What new insights can we learn about cancer when researchers are able to look at the genome and the methylome together?
Recently, Illumina launched its 5-base for Cancer Research Grant Contest to explore that question. Today, the three winners join us on Mendelspod with three very different problems in cancer research.
Richard Tothill of the University of Melbourne is studying cancers of unknown primary and in collaboration with Hartwig Medical Foundation is combining DNA methylation and mutation profiling to reveal the primary origins of these aggressive cancers. Jacob Blum of Johns Hopkins is working with tiny amounts of circulating tumor DNA, combining genetic variants with methylation signals in hopes of improving detection of minimal residual disease and developing a model that other researchers could use. And Alfonso Bellacosa of Fox Chase Cancer Center is investigating what methylation can reveal about the mechanisms behind response and resistance to cancer immunotherapy.
The projects are early stage, but together they give us a snapshot of how cancer researchers are using a new tool that brings epigenetics and genetics into the same experiment and analysis. Joining the discussion is Danielle Goldberg from Illumina, who talks about what the company saw across nearly 200 grant applications and the growing interest in combining genomic and methylation data in cancer research.
