Nilva de Karla Cervigne

PhD completed in 2009 at the Dr Suzanne Kamel-Reid?s laboratory at the Ontario Cancer Institute Princess Margaret Hospital, focused in the study of genetic biomarkers of oral cancer progression. MS Genetics in 2005 at the Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP), focusing pharmacogenetics with emphasis in the study of the genetic polymorphism of NAT2 and the susceptibility for head and neck cancer. During undergraduate (BSc in Biomedical Sciences, UNESP) and graduate training a keen interest in studying human genetics and cancer was developed. In addition to the traditional cytogenetic techniques such as fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH), also developed skills using integrative high-throughput genomic approaches for studying gene expression and DNA copy number in human cancer, such as the development of an unbiased approach for integration of array comparative genomic hybridization (a-CGH) data with genome-wide platforms, and micro-RNA expression analysis. As a postdoctoral fellow researcher, joined Dr Grosveld?s Lab, in the Department of Genetics & Tumor Cell Biology - St Jude Children?s Research Hospital, with the goal of expanding the understanding of cancer genomics and chromosome dynamics. As part of cytogenetic and molecular genetics laboratories developed a thorough understanding of patient-oriented translational research and molecular diagnostics. My primary research objective focuses on the role of MN1 in acute myeloid leukemia (AML), to define the biological and biochemical roles of the interacting aberrant proteins, and to determine how they are involved in tumorigenesis. Goals of this project has involved the development of in vitro and in vivo experiment skills, as well as the optimization of proteomic techniques, such as Chromatin immunoprecipitation (Chip) and Chip-Sequencing assays. Current interests are in the translation of the integrative genomic and proteomic approaches into the identification of novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets. (Source: Lattes Curriculum)