Identifying medulloblastoma vulnerabilities using somatic copy number alterations
Mentor Name: Rameen Beroukhim
Medulloblastomas are the most commonly lethal brain cancers in children, and current treatments usually cause lasting damage to patient's developing brains, resulting in lifelong disabilities in thinking and movement. Cancers like medulloblastoma are caused by genetic alterations in the tumor’s DNA. The most common genetic alterations in medulloblastomas affect huge expanses of DNA, making it difficult to understand which bits of DNA actually affect medulloblastoma growth. The Beroukhim lab has created advanced algorithms like GISTIC and BISCUT to tease these out, including stretches of DNA whose alteration promotes medulloblastoma growth and stretches of DNA whose alteration suppresses growth. Both of these can serve as vital leads for developing effective treatments for medulloblastoma–either by countering the changes that promote growth or reproducing the changes that suppress growth. In this project, we will use these tools to analyze genetic data from thousands of children with medulloblastoma from across both North America and Europe. We anticipate that these efforts will reveal the underlying causes of medulloblastoma, opportunities for improved treatment strategies, and diagnostic tools that will enable us to guide those treatments to the children who would benefit the most.
