Our vision is to accelerate translational discoveries in genome sciences to improve patient care and health outcomes through integration of data science, engineering principles, and systems medicine at Duke.
Advancing discovery and application of innovative genome-based technologies for risk prediction, prognosis, and diagnosis.
Developing implementation science strategies for evidence-based dissemination of genome-inspired tools into care settings.
When Duke's Chris Woods was traveling the world in the 1990s in pursuit of his early interest in infectious diseases, he began to realize something: like politics, all fevers are local. "What causes disease in Sri Lanka during the dry season is different from the wet season and different from either season in Nepal," Woods says.
Instead of looking to pathogens for answers, Woods and his Duke colleagues have looked to their infected hosts, in search of telltale signatures of infection in the bloodstream with the potential to distinguish a viral infection from a bacterial one.
Deepak Voora, Geoff Ginsburg and colleagues published a study in eBioMedicine on the effect of aspirin on RUNX1 and gene expression that may account for the common drug's effects in cardiovascular disease and cancer. Specifically, they report that RUNX1 expression is associated with colon cancer free survival suggesting a role for RUNX1 in aspirin's protective effect in colon cancer.
Duke medical student, Zachary Holcomb, working with Dr. Micah McLain, was awarded the prestigious Leonard Palumbo, Jr., MD Achievement Award from Duke for the top 3rd year research project in the School of Medicine. The title of his project was "Host transcriptomic signatures elucidate differential responses to Cryptococcus neoformans and C. gattii infection and offer the potential to impact current diagnostics." The Palumbo Family Medical Scholarship provides a full-tuition scholarship for the fourth year of medical school.
Ryanne Wu and Lori Orlando were awarded a grant to integrate the MeTree Family Health History tool into a research program called PRISM at Duke-NUS. The goals of the research program are to phenotype and genotype Singaporean citizens; MeTree will be used to collect high quality family histories from participants. In addition, the team will also be exploring what types of modifications would be needed to enable use of the MeTree tool in the Singaporean health system.
Micah McClain and colleagues in the Duke Center for Aging Research were just awarded a prestigious Pepper Foundation grant to study genomic biomarkers of infection in the elderly.
Dr. Deepak Voora's research on the effects of aspirin on colon cancer and cardiovascular disease was featured in the Duke Chronicle.
Drs. Lori Orlando and Ryanne Wu presented the online grand rounds hosted by the Global Genomic Medicine Collaborative (G2MC). Their talk was entitled "Using Precision Medicine to Improve Risk Assessment" and can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p44nNIBlgLg&list=PLLbISY9TaEjAb3Js7EUkNNRD85HCG6cYg&index=5.
Lori Orlando and colleagues had an abstract accepted for presentation at the 9th Annual Conference on the Science of Dissemination and Implementation on December 14-15 in Washington, DC. The abstract is titled "Challenges and Strategies for Implementing Genomic Services in Diverse Settings: Experiences from the Implementing Genomics in Practice (IGNITE) Network."
Ms Rachel Mills and colleagues had an abstract accepted for a poster presentation at the annual meeting of the National Society of Genetic Counselors entitled “Ensigner M, Callanan N, Mills R. "If I saw this, I would feel well-informed" to "In a word, it was awful:" Evaluation of a novel educational video on pharmacogenetic testing."
An abstract submitted to the annual meeting of the American Heart Association by Deepak Voora, Susanne Haga and colleagues has been accepted for a platform presentation. The abstract is entitled "SLCO1B1 genotype-guided statin therapy lowers LDL cholesterol in patients with statin-intolerance- a randomized controlled trial."
The CGSU provides the infrastructure and operational excellence to support translational research in genome and implementation sciences.
The laboratory brings together expertise in molecular microbiology with genome sciences to develop next-generation diagnostic tests.
We support biobanking activities including IRB, sample collection, processing, storage, bar-coded chain of custody and e-inventory management.
We provide support for data management and integration, informatics, and statistical analyses on complex ‘-omics’ and clinical datasets.
Susanne Haga and Rachel Mills published a paper of their analysis of informed consent approaches required of clinical laboratories providing pharmacogenetic testing in the journal Pharmacogenomics.
Susanne Haga published a review on point of care pharmacogenetic testing in the journal Expert Reviews of Molecular Diagnostics.
Lori Orlando and colleagues published a paper in Genetics in Medicine about the integration of the MeTree family health history tool into three primary care settings. They report that the tools improve uptake of risk-stratified guidelines and potentially reduce "overuse" and "underuse" of increased-risk services.
Susanne Haga co-authored an editorial about pharmacogenetic testing in children.
Susanne Haga and colleagues report on their findings of an educational toolkit to be used by community pharmacists when providing pharmacogenetic testing in the journal Pharmacogenomics.
Ryanne Wu and colleagues published a paper in the Journal of Genetic Counseling on the impact of Type 2 Diabetes (T2D) family health history and genetic risk counseling on behavior and its cognitive precursors. They report that genetic risk was able to alter perceptions about the seriousness of T2D risk in those with moderate and average FHH risk, suggesting that FHH could be used to selectively identify individuals who may benefit from genetic risk testing.
