Colorectal Oncogenomics

Australia has one of the highest rates of bowel or colorectal cancer (CRC) in the world. It is our second most common cause of cancer death. But it is also one of the most preventable cancers, and survival from CRC and patient quality of life are significantly improved by early detection, treatment, and risk management. Improving our ability to identify people with a high risk of CRC is therefore crucial. We know that genetic mutations are a significant risk factor for CRC, so using different genomic profiling approaches to screen for these changes can be used to identify high risk people in the population.

Melbourne Bioinformatics has been a long-standing partner in this project, which is being led by the University of Melbourne Centre for Cancer Research's Colorectal Oncogenomics Group (Buchanan Laboratory). Dr Khalid Mahmood brings together computational methods and genomics to understand the genetics of colorectal cancer, developing methods to investigate the relationship between genetic mutations and their impact on protein function, while A/Prof Bernie Pope has contributed through the development of new diagnostic tools for personalised risk assessment for a large group of high-risk individuals, leading to better-targeted screening and medical intervention, aimed at those who will benefit most. Peter Georgeson, a PhD student co-supervised by A/Profs Buchanan and Pope, investigated the suitability of mutational signatures in understanding cancer risks in specific clinical contexts and identified ways in which they can be used for better patient outcomes.

For more information, see the Colorectal Oncogenomics Group (Buchanan Laboratory).