Cancer Genome Sequenced (broadcast Friday, November 7th, 2008)

NHGRI

Researchers studying the genetics of cancer have sequenced the complete cancer genome of a person with acute myeloid leukemia. The team sequenced DNA from both cancerous and normal tissue from a patient with the white blood cell cancer, and then compared the two sequences to identify ten mutated genes that appear to be associated with the formation of the cancer. The work was reported this week in the journal Nature. In this segment, we'll talk with one of the scientists on the project about the work and what researchers hope to learn from the experiments.