Bio-X SIGF Graduate Student Fellow

Awarded in 2011
Home Department: Biomedical Informatics
Faculty Advisors: Serafim Batzoglou (Computer Science), Arend Sidow (Pathology, Genetics), and Robert West (Pathology)

Research Title: Computational methods for studying genomic health

Research Description: Characterizing the genomic evolution of cancer cells has proven effective in elucidating mutational mechanisms responsible for cancer progression. However, the genetic landscape of premalignant cancer cells remains largely unexplored due to the difficulty of isolating early neoplasias and obtaining interpretable DNA sequences from these cellular populations. By leveraging phylogenetic relationships among co-occurring breast cancer lesions, Daniel is developing methods for using next generation DNA sequencing to determine the initial genomic changes responsible for breast cancer development. We hope that this research can identify genetic signatures that distinguish benign lesions from premalignant lesions and ultimately inform the treatment of patients with early breast cancer lesions.

WHERE IS HE NOW?

Daniel works as a software engineer at Google.