BME Lecture Series (Zoom): Jim Brody, UC Irvine

Predicting Future Cancer Diagnoses with DNA Tests

Abstract: My laboratory is working on improving germ line DNA tests that predict whether a person will develop different forms of cancer sometime during their life. The widespread use of highly accurate predictive DNA tests should ultimately reduce the number of deaths due to cancer. In this seminar, I will give a broad introduction to the problem we are tackling, covering some basics of cancer, how cancer population data is collected and analyzed, machine learning classification algorithms, and the use of current polygenic risk scores. I will also present specific results on predicting cancer in two large datasets, the Cancer Genome Atlas Program and the UK Biobank.

Bio: Jim Brody has been on the faculty of UC Irvine's Department of Biomedical Engineering since 2000. He grew up in Michigan, attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (BS, physics) and Princeton University (MS, PhD Physics). Before moving to UCI, he worked at the University of Washington and California Institute of Technology. He also was a cofounder of a startup in the area of microfluidics/in-vitro diagnostics, called Micronics. Micronics was later sold to Sony Biotechnology. He lives in Irvine with his wife, two sons and an ill-behaved dog.