TCD Hosts Cancer Genomics Master Class as part of Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance initiative
Posted on: 07 January 2009
As part of the Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance, Trinity College Dublin hosted a ‘Cancer Genomics MasterClass’ before Christmas at the Institute of Molecular Medicine, St James’s Hospital and TCD. Over 70 delegates attended, both from institutions on the island of Ireland and a number of international institutions to discuss the latest developments in the field.
The MasterClass series, an innovative graduate education programme involving TCD, UCD, DCU, NUI Maynooth, DIT and ITT, was formally launched by TCD’s Dean of Graduate Studies, Professor Carol O’ Sullivan. She outlined how the Dublin Region Higher Education Alliance (DRHEA), funded through the second strand of the Strategic Innovation Fund (SIF) by the Higher Education Authority, was striving to provide quality postgraduate education to PhD students in Ireland. “This MasterClass on cancer genomics, the first supported by the DRHEA’s graduate education strand represents an innovative way of exposing Irish scientists to high quality research and also provides a forum for their own research to be critiqued by an international faculty. I expect that it will provide a benchmark for other initiatives within the DRHEA programme, and serve as a model for enhancing doctoral education for Irish students,” said Professor O’ Sullivan.
Introducing the MasterClass, Professor Mark Lawler of the Institute of Molecular Medicine, St James’s Hospital and TCD emphasised how understanding the genomic architecture of cancers had allowed us to make significant advances, both in our understanding of this common life threatening disease and also in translating these results for clinical benefit. He indicated that a high quality programme of international speakers with significant representation from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in Washington had been assembled to provide a MasterClass on the latest developments in cancer genomics.
“Currently there has been an explosion in our knowledge of new genetic loci that predispose to different types of cancer, with almost 50 new genetic susceptibilities reported in the premier international journals. This represents a paradigm shift in our understanding of the causes of cancer,” stated Professor Lawler.
Speakers at the Masterclass included:
Stephen Chanock, Chief of the Laboratory of Translational Genomics at the National Cancer Institute, USA, Director of the NCI Core Genotyping Facility and Co-Leader of the Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS).
Doug Easton, a Cancer Research UK Principal Research Fellow and Director of the Cancer Research UK Genetic Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge, Cambridge. He is world-renowned for his research into genes that affect the risk of common cancers, particularly breast cancer.
Robert Hoover, Director of the Epidemiology and Biostatistics Programme of the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the NCI.
Richard Hayes, a Senior Investigator at the Division of Cancer Epidemiology and Genetics at the NCI with a particular interest in the genetics of prostate cancer and the genetics of colorectal cancer.
Gilles Thomas, a Co-Leader of the Cancer Genetic Markers of Susceptibility (CGEMS) project . Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have emerged as an effective approach to identify common polymorphisms underlying complex traits.
Paul Pharoah, a Senior Clinical Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. His primary areas of interest are in the architecture of genetic susceptibility to common cancers (primarily breast, ovarian and colorectal).