May 12, 2016
11 am to 12 pm EDT

Sponsored by

Webinar Description:

Cancer regimen-related toxicities are often devastating consequences of current chemo- and radiotherapy regimens used for the treatment of malignancies. But not all patients are at equal risk for developing toxicities and, for those who do, the response to specific treatment varies. Risk and response are largely determined by genomic and epigenomic profiles. This symposium will discuss regimen-related toxicities and present examples of how the application of genomics (and epigenomics) can be applied to effectively identify and treat patients at risk.

Learning Objectives:

• Understand the scope and impact of cancer regimen-related toxicities
• Describe the biological basis for regimen-related epithelial injury
• Provide the potential of genomics in determining risk and response
• Understand the pros- and cons of varying approaches to genomic discovery
• Provide two examples of effective analytics in risk and response prediction

Speaker:

Stephen T. Sonis, D.M.D., D.M.Sc.

Founder, Partner, Chief Scientific Officer

Biomodels LLC

Dr. Sonis is a world-renowned expert in epithelial injury associated with cancer therapy. His development of predictive animal models has enabled the investigation of the biological basis of mucositis and has assisted in the development of potential therapies. The results of his studies on the molecular and cellular pathogenesis of mucositis have established the basis of the mechanistic paradigm for mucosal injury. Dr. Sonis’ interest in the genomic basis for toxicity risk and its pathology has led to innovative genomics-based analytical approaches to clinically actionable outcomes to personalize disease therapy. These studies have resulted in the identification of drug and toxicity specific SNP and gene networks which identify individuals at risk of treatment toxicities and define the genomic parameters which differentiate patients who respond to a specific drug treatment from those who do not. Dr. Sonis has published extensively on the clinical, biological, and health economic aspects of cancer and complications associated with its treatment. He is the author of over 200 original publications, reviews and chapters, 10 books, and 5 patents. Dr. Sonis has obtained degrees from Tufts University and Harvard University and completed his post-doctoral education (tumor immunology) at Oxford University. He holds appointments at the Harvard School of Dental Medicine (Clinical Professor of Oral Medicine, Department of Oral Medicine, Infection and Immunity), the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital where he is Division Chief and Senior Surgeon.