Olufunmilayo (Funmi) F Olopade

We are entering a new era of medicine where genetic markers are going to be used to make clinical management decisions. Our goal is to bridge the gap between basic science and clinical practice through integrated bench to bedside research. My group seeks to further our understanding of the genetic and epigenetic alterations, which characterize human cancer in a way that will eventually lead to early diagnosis, more effective treatment and prevention of cancer. We have amassed unique resources in the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics and continue to contribute new knowledge in clinical cancer genetics through the study of germline and somatic mutations in breast and other cancers. We have initiated studies to determine the incidence of BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 mutations among individuals from ethnically diverse high-risk families in my laboratory. We are also mapping several chromosomal regions that harbor putative tumor suppressor genes. We are funded to define the mutation spectrum of BRCA mutations in women of African descent and to study the evolution of these mutations in the African Diaspora. Founder mutations in ethnic groups could have clinical value because they can be sought directly and rapidly in breast cancer patients with specific ethnic backgrounds. More importantly, these genetic-epidemiology studies will allow us to study gene-gene and gene-environment interactions and BRCA1 and BRCA2 biology. We are also investigating the conditions required for loss of heterozygosity at the BRCA1 locus. These studies will no doubt lead to an improved understanding of the biology of breast cancer that will ultimately translate into more effective therapies.

We are entering a new era of medicine where genetic markers are going to be used to make clinical management decisions. Our goal is to bridge the gap between basic science and clinical practice through integrated bench to bedside research. My group seeks to further our understanding of the genetic and epigenetic alterations, which characterize human cancer in a way that will eventually lead to early diagnosis, more effective treatment and prevention of cancer. We have amassed unique resources in the Center for Clinical Cancer Genetics and continue to contribute new knowledge in clinical cancer genetics through the study of germline and somatic mutations in breast and other cancers. We have initiated studies to determine the incidence of BRCA1 and/or BRCA2 mutations among individuals from ethnically diverse high-risk families in my laboratory. We are also mapping several chromosomal regions that harbor putative tumor suppressor genes. We are funded to define the mutation spectrum of BRCA mutations in women of African descent and to study the evolution of these mutations in the African Diaspora. Founder mutations in ethnic groups could have clinical value because they can be sought directly and rapidly in breast cancer patients with specific ethnic backgrounds. More importantly, these genetic-epidemiology studies will allow...

Riddenstrale KK, Grushko ta, Kim H-J, Olopade OI.(2005) Single day FISH procedure for paraffin-embedded tussue sections using a mircrowave oven. Bio Tecniques 39:316-320.  

Fackenthal JD, Olopade OI.Breast cancer risk associated with BRCA1 and BRCA2 in diverse populations (2007).Nat Rev Cancer 7:937-48. 

Shames DS, Girard L, Gao B, Sato M, Lewis CM, Shivapurkar N, Jiang A, Perou CM, Kim YH, Pollack JR, Fong KM, Lam CI, Wong M, Shyr Y, Nanda R, Olopade OI, Gerald W, Ehus DM, Shay JW, Gazdar AF, Minna JD (2006). A genome-wide screen for promoter methylation in lung cancer indentifies novel methylation markers for multiple malignancies. PLoS Med. 3:e486. 

Chen Y, Borowicz S, Fackenthal J, Collart FR, Myatt E, Moy S, Babnigg G, Wilton R, Boernke WE, Schiffer M, Stevens FJ, Olopade OI (2006) Primary structure-based function characterization of BRCT domain replicates in BRCA1. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 345:188-96.  

Hu Z, Fan C, Oh DS, Marron JS, He X, Qaqish BF, Livasy C, Carey LA, Reynolds E, Dressler L, Nobel A, Parker J, Ewend MG, Saywer LR, Wu J, Liu Y, Nanda R, Tretiakova M, Ruiz Orrico A, Dreher D, Palazzo JP, Perreard L, Nelson E, Mone M, Hansen H, Mullins M, Quackenbush JF, Ellis MJ, Olopade OI, Bernard PS Perou CM.(2006) The molecular portraits of breast tumors are conserved across microarray platforms. BMC Genomics. 7:96  

Wei M, Grushko TA, Dignam J, Hagos F, Nanda R, Sveen L, Xu J, Fackenthal J, Tretiakova M, Das S, Olopade OI, BRCA1 Promoter Methylation in Sporadic Breast Cancer is Associated with Reduced BRCA1 Copy Number and Chromosome 17 Aneusomy (2005) Cancer Research 65:10692-9.  

Nanda R, Schumm, LP, Cummings S, Ademuyiwa F, Cobleigh M, Esserman L, Lindor NM, Neuhausen SL, and Olopade OI, Genetic Testing in an Ethnically Diverse Cohort of High-Risk Women: A comparative Analysis of BRCA1 and BRCA2 Mutations in American Families of European and African Ancestry.(2005) JAMA 294:1925-33. 

Riddenstrale KK, Grushko ta, Kim H-J, Olopade OI.(2005) Single day FISH procedure for paraffin-embedded tussue sections using a mircrowave oven. Bio Tecniques 39:316-320.  

Fackenthal JD, Olopade OI.Breast cancer risk associated with BRCA1 and BRCA2 in diverse populations (2007).Nat Rev Cancer 7:937-48. 

Shames DS, Girard L, Gao B, Sato M, Lewis CM, Shivapurkar N, Jiang A, Perou CM, Kim YH, Pollack JR, Fong KM, Lam CI, Wong M, Shyr Y, Nanda R, Olopade OI, Gerald W, Ehus DM, Shay JW, Gazdar AF, Minna JD (2006). A genome-wide screen for promoter methylation in lung cancer indentifies novel methylation markers for multiple malignancies. PLoS Med. 3:e486. 

Chen Y, Borowicz S, Fackenthal J, Collart FR, Myatt E, Moy S, Babnigg G, Wilton R, Boernke WE, Schiffer M, Stevens FJ, Olopade OI (2006) Primary structure-based function characterization of BRCT domain replicates in BRCA1. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 345:188-96.  

Hu Z, Fan C, Oh DS, Marron JS, He X, Qaqish BF, Livasy C, Carey LA, Reynolds E, Dressler L, Nobel A, Parker J, Ewend MG, Saywer LR, Wu J, Liu Y, Nanda R, Tretiakova M, Ruiz Orrico A, Dreher D, Palazzo JP, Perreard L, Nelson E, Mone M, Hansen H, Mullins M, Quackenbush JF, Ellis MJ, Olopade OI, Bernard PS Perou CM.(2006) The molecular portraits of breast tumors are conserved across microarray platforms. BMC Genomics. 7:96