Division of Molecular Genomic Pathology - Training Opportunities
The rotation at the Division of Molecular Genomic Pathology provides the pathology resident and fellows with exposure to molecular diagnostics in anatomic pathology and molecular testing on specimens from the general surgical and outpatient services at the Presbyterian and Montefiore University Hospitals, Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, Magee-Womens Hospital, as well as from the surgical oncology groups affiliated with the University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute.During the rotation, the residents and fellows will become familiar with the theory, performance, and clinical interpretation of molecular assays in the area of solid tumors, including molecular detection of 1p/19q deletion, MGMT methylation analysis and IDH mutations in gliomas, microsatellite instability in colorectal and endometrial cancer, detection of BRAF, RAS, RET/PTC and PAX8/PPARg mutations in thyroid cancer in surgical and FNA specimens, identification of EGFR and KRAS mutations in lung cancer, tissue identity test, loss of heterozygosity analysis in various types of cancer, and others. They will learn specimen requirements for molecular testing, diagnostic utility and clinical implication of molecular test results with respect to patient management, treatment and prognosis. They will be exposed to the various molecular techniques including manual microdissection and laser capture microdissection (LCM), manual and automated nucleic acids isolation, PCR, RT-PCR, and real-time PCR techniques, agarose and capillary gel electrophoresis, direct nucleotide sequencing, and gene expression profiling. They will also develop familiarity with basic administrative, technical, safety and quality control issues pertinent to the operation of the molecular diagnostic laboratory.
Research Emphasis: Major areas of research include participation in the development and validation of new molecular diagnostic assays in the area of oncology.