BBDS scientists develop scoring system to calculate prognosis for breast cancer patients

BBDS researchers in the Biological Systems and Engineering Division have developed a 12-gene score tied to the odds of relapse-free breast cancer survival. The scoring system is based on an analysis of large genomic datasets and patient
data, and it could eventually be developed for clinical use.

Antoine Snijders, scientist and biomedical science co-director at BBDS, led the team that included Xuan Mao, Matthew Lee, Jeffrey Zhu and Carissa Zhu, all students from Campolindo High School in Moraga, California, who worked as interns at Berkeley Lab in 2016. “Berkeley Lab is committed to training the next generation of future cancer research scientists,” said Snijders. Under the supervision of Snijders, they led the programming effort and computational analysis that helped identify the relevant genes and that formed the basis of the scoring system. Snijders said, “It is exciting to see how these students contributed their computational skills to breast cancer research.” Read more in the Berkeley Lab News Center.