From pathogenesis to precision medicine in breast and ovarian cancer

In the last decade, large-scale next-generation sequencing of DNA and RNA allowed for a new comprehension of cancer. Each tumor is characterized by specific genomic alterations that include multiple gene mutations, amplifications and/or deletions. These cancer cells interact with different components of the tumor microenvironment. Our lab is focused on the correlation between these genomic alterations, the immune infiltrate and response to therapies in breast and ovarian cancers. We are committed to precision medicine by combining our knowledge about the genomic alterations of cancer cells and the immune composition of the tumor microenvironment in order to develop new therapies. We use digital pathology, laser capture microdissection, next-generation sequencing and multispectral immunohistochemistry to reach our goal. Currently, our main research focus is on BRCA1 and BRCA2 mutations.

Another major goal of our lab is the pathogenesis of ovarian cancer. We are investigating the cell of origin of different ovarian cancer histotypes in order to develop new screening tools of the “silent killer”.

The lab’s research is strongly oriented toward real world translation of these findings into diagnostic and therapeutic tools to improve the lives of cancer patients.