A. Sorana Morrissy
- Glioma Diagnosis and Treatment
- Cancer Genomics and Diagnostics
- Hedgehog Signaling Pathway Studies
- Epigenetics and DNA Methylation
- Cancer, Hypoxia, and Metabolism
- RNA Research and Splicing
- Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
- Single-cell and spatial transcriptomics
- RNA modifications and cancer
- Cancer-related molecular mechanisms research
- Chromatin Remodeling and Cancer
- Genetic Syndromes and Imprinting
- Mitochondrial Function and Pathology
- Neuroblastoma Research and Treatments
- CAR-T cell therapy research
- MicroRNA in disease regulation
- Cancer Cells and Metastasis
- Amino Acid Enzymes and Metabolism
- Cancer-related Molecular Pathways
- Cell Image Analysis Techniques
- Circular RNAs in diseases
- Genomics and Phylogenetic Studies
- Bioinformatics and Genomic Networks
- Brain Metastases and Treatment
- Cancer Immunotherapy and Biomarkers
University of Calgary
2018-2025
Alberta Children's Hospital
2018-2025
Hospital for Sick Children
2014-2025
SickKids Foundation
2012-2025
Institute of Cancer Research
2018-2024
Alberta Children's Hospital Research Institute
2019-2020
Cancer Institute (WIA)
2018
Biologie du Développement et Cellules Souches
2017
University of Toronto
2012-2016
BC Cancer Agency
2009-2014
Current therapies for medulloblastoma, a highly malignant childhood brain tumour, impose debilitating effects on the developing child, and highlight need molecularly targeted treatments with reduced toxicity. Previous studies have been unable to identify full spectrum of driver genes molecular processes that operate in medulloblastoma subgroups. Here we analyse somatic landscape across 491 sequenced samples heterogeneity among 1,256 epigenetically analysed cases, subgroup-specific...
Medulloblastoma, the most common malignant paediatric brain tumour, is currently treated with nonspecific cytotoxic therapies including surgery, whole-brain radiation, and aggressive chemotherapy. As medulloblastoma exhibits marked intertumoural heterogeneity, at least four distinct molecular variants, previous attempts to identify targets for therapy have been underpowered because of small samples sizes. Here we report somatic copy number aberrations (SCNAs) in 1,087 unique...
Medulloblastoma is associated with rare hereditary cancer predisposition syndromes; however, consensus medulloblastoma genes have not been defined and screening guidelines for genetic counselling testing paediatric patients are available. We aimed to assess define these provide evidence future guidelines.
We describe a new method, Tag-seq, which employs ultra high-throughput sequencing of 21 base pair cDNA tags for sensitive and cost-effective gene expression profiling. compared Tag-seq data to LongSAGE observed improved representation several classes rare transcripts, including transcription factors, antisense intronic sequences, the latter possibly representing novel exons or genes. increases in diversity, abundance, dynamic range such transcripts took advantage greater identify, cancers...
Medulloblastoma comprises four distinct molecular subgroups: WNT, SHH, Group 3, and 4. Current medulloblastoma protocols stratify patients based on clinical features: patient age, metastatic stage, extent of resection, histologic variant. Stark prognostic genetic differences among the subgroups suggest that subgroup-specific biomarkers could improve prognostication.Molecular were identified from a discovery set 673 medulloblastomas 43 cities around world. Combined risk stratification models...
Telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) promoter mutations were recently shown to drive telomerase activity in various cancer types, including medulloblastoma. However, the clinical and biological implications of TERT medulloblastoma have not been described. Hence, we sought describe these their impact a subgroup-specific manner. We analyzed by direct sequencing genotyping 466 medulloblastomas. The mutational distributions determined according subgroup affiliation, demographics, clinical,...
Although replication repair deficiency, either by mismatch deficiency (MMRD) and/or loss of DNA polymerase proofreading, can cause hypermutation in cancer, microsatellite instability (MSI) is considered a hallmark MMRD alone. By genome-wide analysis tumors with germline and somatic deficiencies repair, we reveal novel association between proofreading MSI, especially when both components are lost. Analysis indels microsatellites (MS-indels) identified five distinct signatures (MS-sigs)....
Abstract Sonic hedgehog medulloblastoma encompasses a clinically and molecularly diverse group of cancers the developing central nervous system. Here, we use unbiased sequencing transcriptome across large cohort 250 tumors to reveal differences among molecular subtypes disease, demonstrate previously unappreciated importance non-coding RNA transcripts. We identify alterations within cAMP dependent pathway ( GNAS , PRKAR1A ) which converge on GLI2 activity show that 18% have genetic event...
Abstract Transcription factors are frequent cancer driver genes, exhibiting noted specificity based on the precise cell of origin. We demonstrate that ZIC1 exhibits loss-of-function (LOF) somatic events in group 4 (G4) medulloblastoma through recurrent point mutations, subchromosomal deletions and mono-allelic epigenetic repression (60% G4 medulloblastoma). In contrast, highly similar SHH distinct diametrically opposed gain-of-function mutations copy number gains (20% Overexpression...