Massively parallel sequencing of tumors enables the identification of oncogenomic mutations that correlate with response and resistance to targeted therapies. This webinar presents the path followed by Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) to develop a hybridization-based capture panel encompassing more than 300 key cancer-associated genes, which they have applied to characterize several thousand tumors. Their translational research efforts will be discussed, including examples in which the speaker’s group has identified genomic biomarkers predictive of drug response in a variety of tumor types.
Dr. Michael Berger is an assistant attending in the Department of Pathology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSKCC) and an affiliate member of MSKCC’s Human Oncology and Pathogenesis Program. He is also the associate director of the newly created Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis Center for Molecular Oncology at MSKCC, a multidisciplinary initiative to promote precision oncology through genomic analysis to guide the diagnosis and treatment of cancer patients. At MSKCC he runs an independent research laboratory that is developing experimental and computational methods to reliably and accurately profile clinical specimens for cancer-related DNA mutations and copy number alterations. His laboratory collaborates with many clinical and translational investigators to discover significant oncogenic mutations in rare or understudied tumor types and to identify genomic biomarkers for tumor progression and therapeutic response. As the Director of Bioinformatics in the Molecular Diagnostics Service, he is also overseeing the efforts of the CLIA-compliant Diagnostic Molecular Pathology Laboratory to implement a robust profiling pipeline and analytical framework for use in real-time patient management. Dr. Berger received a bachelor’s degree in physics from Princeton University and a PhD in biophysics from Harvard University.
