Vessela N. Kristensen
University of Oslo Norway
Title: Integrated Molecular Profiling of Breast Cancer
Biography
Biography: Vessela N. Kristensen
Abstract
The tumor initiation, progression and clinical presentation are directly dependent on its genetic and biochemical environment – the entire body. Our group is working on different projects related to how genetic variation affects occurrence of somatic alterations, gene expression patterns and genome wide copy number alterations in human breast and ovarian tumors. Understanding inherited genetic variability and how it affects crucial biological pathways is likely to lead to new successful prevention and treatment strategies. The research in the group is focusing on constitutive variation such as single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), somatic mutations and copy number variations (CNVs) in relation to susceptibility, clinical presentation, treatment response and adverse side effects of treatment. Gene regulation and proximal phenotypes (RNA expression and metabolic profiles), Genomic Instability and DNA methylation patterns in cancer as well as molecular mechanisms underlying treatment response will be discussed.