“What is most striking to me is that we all in this room here know of somebody that has developed cancer. And we still don’t understand the reason why.” That’s Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) Associate Professor Camila dos Santos speaking at a recent CSHL Association meeting. About 30% to 40% of women who develop breast cancer have known risk factors. But what about the other 60% to 70% with no known risk factors? And how do other women’s health issues like pregnancy and menopause come into play here?
Dos Santos hopes to answer these questions in order to empower women to become better advocates for their own health. Joining her in this effort is CSHL Assistant Professor Peter Koo, whose work focuses on the intersection of genomics and artificial intelligence. Koo is training AI to comb the genome in search of unknown biological factors that may affect our risk of getting cancer. As powerful as today’s AI is, it can’t handle this task alone. It takes the help of researchers like Koo, an expert in quantitative genomics, and dos Santos, who specializes in breast cancer genetics.
CSHL is where interdisciplinary collaborations like this come to life. Press play to watch it happen and learn more about today’s most cutting-edge breast cancer research.