Barbara Kraatz Fortini, PhD

Barbara Fortini joined KGI in July 2017 to lead the Master of Science in Human Genetics and Genomic Data Analytics (MSGDA) program. The first cohort of MSGDA students enrolled in August 2018. Within the KGI curriculum, Fortini teaches four courses: Human Molecular Genetics, Human Genomics, Human Genomics NGS Lab, and Functional Genomics. Fortini’s research is focused on how non-coding genomic variation affects colorectal cancer risk. 

Prior to joining KGI, Fortini served as a visiting assistant professor of biology at the W.M. Keck Science Department of the Claremont McKenna, Pitzer, and Scripps Colleges. Fortini completed her postdoctoral training at the Keck School of Medicine of USC in the Department of Preventive Medicine at the USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center. She received her BS in 2002 and her PhD in 2011 at the California Institute of Technology.

MP Salomon, WL Li, CK Edlund, J Morrison, BK Fortini, AK Win, DV Conti, DC Thomas, D Duggan, DD Buchanan, MA Jenkins, JL Hopper, S Gallinger, L Le Marchand, PA Newcomb, G Casey, P Marjoram. “GWASeq: targeted re-sequencing follow up to GWAS” BMC Genomics (2016) Mar 3;17(1):176

FR Schumacher*, SL Schmit*, Shuo Jiao*, C K Edlund, H Wang, B Zhang, L Hsu, SC Huang, CP Fischer, JF Harju, GE Idos, F Lejbkowicz, FJ Manion, K McDonnell, CE McNeil, M Melas, HS Rennert, W Shi, DC Thomas, DJ Van Den Berg, CM Hutter, AK Aragaki, K Butterbach, BJ Caan, CS Carlson, SJ Chanock, KR Curtis, CS Fuchs, M Gala, Edward L. Giocannucci, SM Gogarten, RB Hayes, B Henderson, DJ Hunter, RD Jackson, LN Kolonel, C Kooperberg, S Kury, A LaCroix, CC Laurie, CA Laurie, M Lemire, D Levine, J Ma, KW Makar, C Qu, D Taverna, CM Ulrich, K Wu, S Kono, DW West, SI Berndt, S Bezieau, H Brenner, PT Campbell, AT Chan, J Chang-Claude, GA Coetzee, DV Conti, D Duggan, JC Figueiredo, BK Fortini, SJ Gallinger, WJ Gauderman, G Giles, R Green, R Haile, TA Harrison, M Hoffmeister, JL Hopper, TJ Hudson, E Jacobs, M Iwasaki, SH Jee, M Jenkins, WH Jia, A Joshi, L Li, NM Lindor, K Matsuo, V Moreno, B Mukherjee, PA Newcomb, JD Potter, L Raskin, G Rennert, S Rosse, G Severi, RE Schoen, D Seminara, XO Shu, ML Slattery, S Tsugane, E White, YB Xiang, BW Zanke, W Zheng, L Le Marchand, G Casey, SB Gruber, U Peters. “Genome-wide association study of colorectal cancer identifies six new susceptibility loci” Nature Commun. (2015) Jul 7;6:7138

BK Fortini, S Tring, SJ Plummer, CK Edlund, V Moreno, RS Bresalier, EL Barry, TR Church, JC Figueiredo, G Casey. “Mulitple Functional Risk Variants in a SMAD7 Enhancer Implicate a Colorectal Cancer Risk Haplotype.” PLoS One. (2014) Nov 6:9(11):e111914

M Biancolella*, BK Fortini*, S Tring, SJ Plummer, G Mendoza-Fandino, J Hartiala, MJ Hitchler, C Yan, FR Schumacher, DV Conti, CK Edlund, H Noushmehr, SG Coetzee, RS Bresalier, DJ Ahnen, EL Barry, BP Burman, JC Rice, G Coetzee, G Casey. “Identification and Characterization of Functional Risk Variants for Colorectal Cancer Mapping to Chromosome 11q23.1” Hum. Mol. Genet. (2014) Apr 15;23(8):2198-209

JC Figueiredo, L Hsu, CM Hutter, Y Lin, PT Campbell, JA Baron, SI Berndt, J Shuo, G Casey, BK Fortini, AT Chan, M Cotterchio, M Lemire, S Gallinger, TA Harrison, L Le Marchand, PA Newcomb, ML Slattery, BJ Caan, CS Carlson, BW Zanke, SA Rosse, H Brenner, EL Giovannucci, K Wu, J Chang-Claude, SJ Chanock, KR Curtis, D Duggan, J Gong, RW Haile, RB Hayes, M Hoffmeister, JL Hopper, MA Jenkins, LN Kolonel, C Qu, A Rudolph, RE Schoen, FR Schumacher, D Seminara, DL Stelling, SN Thibodeau, M Thornquist, GS Warnick, BE Henderson, CM Ulrich, WJ Gauderman, JD Potter, E White, and U Peters on behalf of CCFR and GECCO. “Genome-wide diet-gene interaction analyses for risk of colorectal cancer” PLoS Genet. (2014) Apr 17;10(4):e1004228

H Wang, D Taverna, DO Stram, BK Fortini, I Cheng, LR Wilkens, T Burnett, KW Makar, NM Lindor, JL Hopper, S Gallinger, JA Baron, R Haile, LN Kolonel, BE Henderson, PA Newcomb, G Casey, D Duggan, CM Ulrich, and L Le Marchand. “Genetic Variation in the Inflammation and Innate Immunity Pathways and Colorectal Cancer Risk” Cancer Epidemiol. Biomarkers Prev. (2013) November 22; 2094

H Wang, CA Haiman, T Burnett, BK Fortini, LN Kolonel, BE Henderson, LB Signorello, WJ Blot, TO Keku, SI Berndt, PA Newcomb, M Pande, CI Amos, DW West, G Casey, RS Sandler, R Haile, DO Stram, and L Le Marchand. “Fine-mapping of Genome-wide Association Study-identified Risk Loci for Colorectal Cancer in African Americans” Hum. Mol. Genet. (2013) Dec 15;22(24):5048-55

BK Fortini*, S Pokharel*, P Polaczek*, L Balakrishnan, RA Bambara, and JL Campbell, “Characterization of the Endonuclease and ATP-dependent Flap Endo/exonuclease of Dna2.” J. Biol. Chem. (2011) 286(27):23763-70.