PhD Literature Mastery Seminar – Ijeoma Nnadozie, PhD Student – “Identification of Functional Risk Variants Associated with Colorectal Cancer in African American Population”

Please join us for KGI PhD Student, Ijeoma Nnadozie’s PhD Literature Mastery Seminar on:

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the US. The incidence and mortality of colorectal cancer vary by sex, race, and ethnicity, with African Americans (AA) recording the highest incidence and mortality. The disparity for CRC among AA is thought to be multifactorial with environmental, societal, and genetic factors. It is estimated that 35% of CRC risk can be attributed to genetic factors. However, highly penetrant syndromes only contribute about 5% of CRC risk, leaving many genetic factors unknown. The use of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) in understanding genetic risk factors for susceptibility to CRC have identified significant genetic heterogeneity between African and European Americans. Common variants associated with CRC risk in AA include SNPs rs10318, rs11632715, rs12902616, and rs1862748 located on chromosomes 15 and 16, near genes CDH1 and GREM1, respectively. Characterization of these risk variants and the relationship between genes CDH1, GREM1, and their function in colorectal cancer will help provide a better understanding of inherited colorectal cancer risk in the African American population. This improves the potential utility of polygenetic risk scores and furthers understanding the biological mechanisms responsible for causing susceptibility to colorectal cancer in AA.

Date: December 8, 2021

Time:  12:00 – 1:00 p.m.

Location:  517 Bldg. – 165 Classroom (Zoom link will be included in Outlook invite as well)