Jessica Bertout, PhD, VMD
Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center
2013 Gilman Family Scholar
High-Resolution Detection of Somatic Ovarian Cancer Mutations in Bodily Fluids
Owing to a lack of effective screening tests, 80% of ovarian cancer patients are diagnosed in late stages of the disease at which point there are low survival rates. Methods that enumerate tumor cells and tumor DNA circulating in bodily fluids are currently under intense investigation for early detection and cancer diagnostics; however, no existing technology meets the high sensitivity and specificity requirements needed to attain these goals. Dr. Bertout proposes to use new technologies, building upon Next Generation Sequencing technologies to enable exquisitely sensitive cancer-specific mutation detection, to overcome these challenges, to permit the noninvasive early detection of ovarian cancer, and to extend patient survival.