Brigham Mecham

Joined Genome Sciences: 2004
Previous Degree: B.A., Mathematics, Washington University
Nelson Lab
bhmecham [ a t ] u.washington.edu

Research:

In the course of my graduate studies I have worked with Peter Nelson at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. My research focuses on identifying clinically relevant features of experimental models using genome wide gene expression assays. The main goal of my thesis is to help with research at the interface between clinical medicine and genomics. Genome wide gene expression assays are widely used to identify clinically relevant biomarkers for a variety of diseases, including many cancers. These studies generally consist of thousands to millions of genomic measurements measured on tens to hundreds of patients exhibiting varying features of a (usually) clinically heterogenous disease. Specifically, I have focused on understanding the clinical and basic biological information about a given study (i.e. experimental design) to develop novel statistical methods capable of identifying relevant genomic features in large clinical studies. I feel that my research could directly help us better understand the processes of tumorigenesis and metastasis, advance the current knowledge of prostate biology, and directly contribute to the growing knowledge base of statistical genomics.