The Center for Brain Tumor Genetics and Biology investigates the genetics and molecular biology of primary brain tumors. Research to understand the biology of brain tumors has produced great anticipation that novel and more effective cancer treatments might soon be discovered. Such treatments will offer improved clinical and quality of life outcomes for those patients with primary brain tumors.
Evolutionary Genetics of Primary Brain Tumors
Recently, several large-scale projects have been initiated that seek to provide the data necessary to unlock the clues to understanding cancer. For example, The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) is a federally-funded, multi-center project that is a comprehensive and coordinated effort to accelerate understanding of the molecular-genetic basis of cancer utilizing genome analysis technologies, including large-scale genome sequencing. Scientists at NeuroTexas Institute, along with researchers at the University of Texas at Austin, are working with TCGA data to develop novel genetic analyses, which will reveal new insights into the biology of primary brain tumors.
The Austin Brain Tumor Registry
The Austin Brain Tumor Registry is a multi-disciplinary research center focused on providing a central repository for brain tumor tissue and clinical information from neurooncology patients. The ABTR will facilitate biomedical research projects studying important clinical issues in brain tumors such as genetics, cell biology, biochemical engineering, and drug discovery. The specimens collected for the ABTR may be used by local academic research centers.
