Dr Elizabeth Murchison
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University positionResearch Associate |
DepartmentsWellcome Trust Sanger Institute Institutes |
Home pagehttp://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/re... (personal home page) Research ThemesInfectious agents and cancer Cancer genomics |
Interests
Elizabeth Murchison studies the genetics and evolution of clonally transmissible cancers. Tasmanian devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) and canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT) are the only known naturally occurring tumours that are spread between individuals by the transfer of viable cancer cells. These diseases have evolved independently, and have distinct host species, pathologies and clinical outcomes. DFTD affects Tasmanian devils and is threatening this unique marsupial species with extinction. By using high throughput DNA sequencing technologies, Elizabeth is investigating the genetics and evolution of these two diseases.
Research Focus
Keywords
Cancer sites
Equipment
Key publications
Murchison EP, Schulz-Trieglaff OB, Ning Z, Alexandrov LB et al. (2012) Genome sequencing and analysis of the Tasmanian devil and its transmissible cancer. Cell. In press.
Murchison EP, Tovar C, Hsu A, Bender HS, Kheradpour P, Rebbeck C, Obendorf D, Conlan C, Bahlo M, Blizzard C, Pyecroft S, Kreiss A, Kellis M, Stark A, Harkins TT, Graves JAM, Woods GM, Hannon GJ and Papenfuss AT (2010), “The Tasmanian devil transcriptome reveals Schwann cell origins of a clonally transmissible cancer. Science”, Jan 1 327(5961):84–7
Murchison EP (2009), “Clonally transmissible cancers in dogs and Tasmanian devils”, Oncogene 27:S19—S30
Collaborators
No collaborators listed