Clinical Next-Gen Sequencing for Solid Tumors: What, How, Why, and When?

This presentation provides an overview of the role of next-generation sequencing technologies in the molecular subtyping of solid tumors. Points of emphasis include approaches to maximizing genomic information from very small FFPE tumor samples, the spectrum of mutations and other genetic alterations that are important in non-small cell lung cancer, and the challenges of interpreting rare sequence variants.

Lecture Presenter
Christopher Corless, MD, PhD
Christopher Corless, MD, PhD
Professor of Pathology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Oregon Health & Science University
Executive Director & Chief Medical Officer, Knight Diagnostic Laboratories

After undergraduate studies at the Univ. of California, Berkeley, Dr. Corless received his MD and PhD degrees from Washington University, St. Louis. He did his residency training in Anatomic Pathology at the Brigham & Women's Hospital, Boston, where he also completed fellowship training in GI Pathology and GU Pathology. He joined the faculty of Oregon Health & Science University in 1994 and was promoted to Professor in 2004. During his career he has served as the residency program director in Pathology and medical director of surgical pathology for OHSU Hospital. He is presently the Director and Chief Medical Officer of the Knight Diagnostic Laboratories at OHSU. An author on over 260 publications, Dr. Corless has expertise in the application of molecular diagnostics to the classification and prognostication of solid tumors.

Objectives

After this presentation, participants will be able to:

Learn about new approaches to next-gen sequencing-based assays performed on very small FFPE samples of tumor.
Appreciate the diversity of molecular subtypes of non-small cell lung cancer and the challenges of identifying them.
Understand the importance of bioinformatic and information technology support needed to assess and report genomic variants identified in solid tumors.