CCBIO Special Seminar - Martin Widschwendter
CCBIO Special Seminar with invited speaker Martin Widschwendter, Professor in Women's Cancer, Head of the Department of Women’s Cancer at University College London (UCL) and a Consultant Gynaecological Oncology Surgeon at University College London Hospital (UCLH). Title: "Epigenetics and Cancer Risk".
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Apart from the interesting talks, the CCBIO seminars are a good way to meet CCBIO members and associates. Please feel free to inform others about this seminar as all are welcome.
Speaker: Professor Martin Widschwendter, MD, FRCOG, Department of Women’s Cancer, University College London
Time: June 8th 2017 at 13.00
Place: Auditorium 2, BB-building, Jonas Lies vei 91
Chairperson: Line Bjørge
Title: "Epigenetics and Cancer Risk"
Abstract:
While prevention of most female specific cancers (ovarian, breast, endometrial) has not progressed substantially in recent years, significant progress has been made with cervical cancer due to the accessibility of the cell of origin (cervical smear) and availability of a test for a causal agent (human papilloma virus); together these enable identification of high risk individuals and interventions in order to prevent infection or halt the progression to invasive cancer.
Our FORECEE (Female cancer prediction using cervical omics to individualise screening and prevention) consortium has developed an exciting opportunity to utilise clinically abundant cervical cells in tandem with a multi-omics enabled (genome, epigenome, metagenome) analysis pipeline to understand an individual's risk of developing all female specific cancers and to direct a personalised screening and prevention strategy. Cervical cells — currently collected within cervical cancer screening — provide an ideal window into other female specific cancers because they are (i) an excellent non-invasive source of high quality DNA, (ii) provide a readout for environmental exposure, (iii) are part of the Muellerian tract and (iv) are hormone sensitive, recording (via the epigenome) various hormonal conditions over a lifetime that trigger cancer development.
Our consortium comprises a multi-disciplinary team of experts in clinical oncology, risk-benefit communication, omics technologies, decision analysis, health economics and public health. We will examine the effectiveness of the proposed cervical cell omics analysis method and investigate the legal, social, ethical and behavioural issues related to the implementation of the risk prediction tool, through direct interaction with stakeholder groups with a view to ensuring its rapid translation into clinical practice across Europe.
The FORECEE project is aligned with the novel concept of "P4 Medicine" (predictive, preventive, personalised, and participatory): it aims to develop a risk prediction tool and translate its output into personalised recommendations for screening and prevention of female cancers.
During the seminar the rationale and an outline of FORECEE will be provided.