Whole genome methylation landscape of breast cancer

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DESCRIPTION (Provided by the applicant): The purpose of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is to create jobs, and for NIH awards to fund science in pursuit of improving the length and the quality of the lives of U.S. citizens, while at the same time stimulating the economy. This application proposes a new translational cancer research team with established expertise in cancer genomics and epigenetics to be recruited to the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC). This research team lead by Dr. John Edwards, presently a research associate in the Bestor laboratory at Columbia University, would initially consist of at least four individuals, all employed in newly created jobs. Notably, Dr. Edwards currently holds an active K99/R00 transition award that is in its K99 stage. Dr. Edwards has visited URMC and discussed common research interests with the faculty. Recognizing the perspectives for fruitful collaborations, and for scientific and academic growth at URMC, he is committed to accept a tenure track Assistant Professor position in the Department of Biomedical Genetics, should funds through this application become available. URMC hosts a vibrant, interdisciplinary and multidepartment team of scientists working on multiple aspects of translational cancer research under the umbrella of the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at URMC. The ability to use advanced genomic resources to associate cancer genome function with epigenetic marks, e.g. methylation on DNA of human cancers is an emerging area with great potential to improve cancer diagnostics and outcome prediction. Expertise in cancer epigenetics would markedly strengthen and complement our existing translational cancer research capabilities. Addition of Dr. Edwards to the faculty would also advance genomics expertise with direct relevance to the newly founded Center for Genomics and Systems Biology and the Department of Biomedical Genetics, as the core center and academic home for his faculty position. Herein we describe Dr. Edwards's research plan and how it fits into the context of the translational cancer research efforts at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center at URMC, the Department of Biomedical Genetics and the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology. Furthermore we discuss how Dr. Edwards would benefit from the scientific environment and the mentoring culture of the Department of Biomedical Genetics, and the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center. Public Health Relevance: The multidisciplinary translational research program described in here will identify alterations in genome-wide methylation patterns in breast cancer using experimental and computational methods and assess their utility as biomarkers for cancer diagnosis and prognosis of disease recurrence.