Programs and Projects
The Cancer Biomarkers Research Group supports research programs utilizing cellular, genetic, molecular, and phenotypic markers, including proteomics, metabolomics, glycomics, and pathologic grades and stages. The group also promotes development of enabling technologies to accelerate characterization of preneoplastic lesions, early stages of cancer, or risk factors leading to assay development for cancer detection and diagnosis. The Early Detection Research Network and Alliance of Glycobiologists for Detection of Cancer and Cancer Risk are coordinated by the Cancer Biomarkers Research Group. These consortia and many independent grant awardees in this grant portfolio study molecular features of biomarkers such as proteins (ELISA, Luminex, antibody arrays, profiling by mass spectrometry), genomics (SNP analysis, loss of heterozygosity, mutation analysis, microsatellite instability, transcriptomic profiling), epigenomics (DNA methylation), autoantibodies (protein and carbohydrate epitopes), glycomics, metabolomics, and micro RNAs. Furthermore, a distinct interest of this group is in bioinformatic tools to promote biomarker discovery using the aforementioned technologies. This group also has interests in animal models and cancer stem cells as they can be applied to early diagnosis of cancer. This group has fostered collaborations with a number of NIH initiatives (WHI, PLCO, CARET, PCPT) and several independent foundations and private companies to facilitate cancer biomarker discovery and translational development including the Canary Foundation, the Lustgarten Foundation, Agilent Technologies, and Affimetrix.
