Abstract

Cancer genomes carry a spectrum of copy number alterations, the etiology of which was commonly thought of as consequent to “instability” (e.g. random chance). This view is changing. Our group, and others, have shown that specific deterministic patterns govern the manner by which cancer genomes evolve. A discussion of this topic will be presented as well as new data that extend its reach.

Biosketch

Dr. Baslan did his graduate work at CSHL under the mentorship of Drs. Mike Wigler and James Hicks, developing and implementing single-cell genome methods to understand intra-tumoral genetic heterogeneity. Following, Dr. Baslan did a Fellowship at MSKCC with Dr. Scott Lowe, where in addition to further developing sequencing methods and analytics, he studied mouse models of disease. Currently Dr. Baslan is an assistant professor in the Departments of Biomedical Sciences and Systems Pharmacology where he leads a research program that aims understand the genetics and biology of copy number alterations, and leverage this knowledge to advance diagnostic approaches as well as therapies.