Functional characterization of genes involved in the development of Cancer

As increasing numbers of disease-causing genes are identified by high throughput (HTP) techniques, emphasis will shift to the difficult task of functional characterization. To harvest the full biological potential of these technologies, the availability o f a panel of techniques for functional characterization is necessary. This application focus on functional characterization of specific candidate oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes. The research will be performed in Professor Børresen-Dale's group at Th e Norwegian Radium Hospital, in close collaboration with Professors Myklebost and Lothe. The main aim of the project is to establish state-of-the-art methods for functional characterization, achieved by a 1½-2 years research stay in Professor Charles Pero u's laboratory in Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center (USA), focusing mainly on functional characterization of putative oncogenes on chromosome 8q. Expression analysis in cancer samples of the candidate tumor suppressor gene WWOX, will also be performed. Returning to Oslo, this methodology will be used to characterize candidate oncogenes on 1q21 identified in Myklebost's group, and novel candidates identified in experiments performed with HTP methodologies, most notably genomic and expression micro array techniques, in the groups of Myklebost, Børresen-Dale and Lothe. The genes identified constitute targets for therapeutic intervention. Their characterization enhances our understanding of cancer development.