Contributions by role
Contributions by subject area
Kate Lawrenson
Summary
The main goal of my research is to characterize the role of the noncoding genome in cancer development, with a particular focus on ovarian cancer. In the Lawrenson laboratory, our research studies the interplay between the epigenome and the transcriptome during tumorigenesis using ChIP-seq, RNA-seq, genome editing and single cell analyses. Noncoding targets are validated using state-of-the-art genome, epigenome and transcriptome editing and interactome characterization technologies. Through involvement in the Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC) I have lead efforts in the identification and functional analysis of risk variants occurring in the noncoding genome. In my laboratory we are now applying the same principles to identifying and validating functional noncoding somatic variants acquired during tumorigenesis. The overarching theme of my research is to unravel the story of the noncoding genome to identify novel drivers of tumor development that can be exploited as biomarkers or therapeutic targets.