During a session entitled "Practicing Pathologists in Personalized Medicine," Dr. Kojo Elenitoba-Johnson recently gave a talk on "novel actionable mutations in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma" at the Personalized Medicine World Conference in Mountain View, Calif. The Elenitoba-Johnson lab, using next-generation sequencing, has identified recurrent mutations in cutaneous T-cell lymphoma that preliminary studies indicate may be therapeutic targets that might be exploited for the treatment of these cancers. The Personalized Medicine World Conference (PMWC), now in its 10th year, is an independent conference that attracts recognized authorities and experts across healthcare and biotechnology sectors. The conference showcases practical content that helps close the knowledge gap between different sectors, thereby catalyzing cross-functional collaboration to further adoption of personalized medicine in the clinic.

Dr. David Roth, Chair of the Department and Director of the Penn Precision Medicine Program, recently participated in a panel on advances in personalized medicine at the ACS Cancer Action Network Personalized Medicine Round Table. The panel brought together experts from academic medical centers, industry, and non-profit organizations. Dr. Roth discussed the value that next-generation sequencing of actionable mutations offers from a practical, pathological perspective. “The average lung cancer sample we receive in the pathology lab is smaller than the tip of my pinkie finger,” Roth said. “From that, we are expected to do all sorts of testing by cutting little tiny tissue slices, which can take weeks. Once you have more than a handful of mutations to look for, it becomes a practical and logistical problem.”
Coverage in HemOnc article.