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Dora Dias-Santagata, PhD
Instructor in Pathology,
Harvard Medical School
Assistant in Pathology,
Massachusetts General Hospital
Translational Oncology Laboratory
Molecular Pathology Department
Massachusetts General Hospital
55 Fruit Street - Jackson Building, GRJ 1028
Boston, MA 02114
Phone: (617) 724-1261
Fax: (617) 724-6974
Email: ddiassantagata@partners.org |
Research Interests:
Targeted cancer therapy requires the rapid and accurate identification of genetic abnormalities predictive of therapeutic response. Our lab has sought to establish a large-scale, high-throughput genotyping platform to uncover specific mutations in a broad range of human malignancies. We focused on identifying abnormally activated signaling pathways that render tumors susceptible to currently available targeted therapeutics, to allow for prospective patient selection to the best existing treatments. We have developed a highly sensitive multiplexed clinical assay that performs very well with nucleic acid derived from FFPE tissue, and tests for 120 previously described mutations in 13 cancer genes. Using this system, we have recently profiled 250 primary tumors representative of major human malignancies. Our findings were consistent with the documented mutational spectrum for oncogenes, and also identified rare events in some cancer types.
Our current research efforts are focused on the molecular characterization of rare tumor types, which have to date received less comprehensive attention. The goal of our research is to elucidate the genetic mechanisms underlying development and progression of these malignancies and to uncover novel diagnostic markers and activated pathways that can be targeted by currently available therapeutics.
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