QB3 Webinar: Howard Chang, Stanford: “Personal Regulome Navigation of Cancer”

Cancer is a disease of genes. Yet the elucidation of cancer genomes does not mean we have conquered cancer; the central challenge is in their interpretation. In every human cell, two meters of DNA is packed into a ~10 micron nucleus. The genome is extensively compacted, except for the active regulatory DNA elements that remain accessible. I will describe new technologies based on DNA transposition that reveals the epigenomic profiles of single cells or from clinical biopsies of disease states.  The landscape of active DNA regulatory elements are further linked to 3D genome architecture, mutational profiles, and RNA output to reveal the targets of disease associated DNA elements, such as inherited genetic variants or those modified by environmental stimuli. Our analysis of 23 human cancer types reveal nearly half a million active DNA elements across human cancers, disclose oncogenic extrachromosomal DNA, and identify gene-regulatory interactions underlying cancer immune evasion. These results suggest a systematic approach to understanding the noncoding genome in cancer to advance diagnosis and therapy.