Mohamed Abdel-Rahman
Mohamed Abdel-Rahman, MD, PhD, is a member of the Molecular Biology and Cancer Genetics Program at the OSUCCC – James, where he focuses his research on molecular diagnosis of ocular melanoma, identification of novel targets for ocular melanoma therapy and hereditary predisposition to ocular melanoma.
His work includes developing a clinical trial for managing uveal melanoma patients with a high risk for systemic metastasis. His research has identified a novel hereditary cancer predisposition syndrome caused by germline mutation in the BAP1 gene that increases the risk for several cancers including ocular melanoma, skin melanoma, kidney cancer and mesothelioma. It also produced data that highlights the importance of pigmentary genes in the development of ocular melanoma.
Dr. Abdel-Rahman has co-authored numerous articles appearing in well-known publications, including Journal Medical Genetics, Scientific Reports, Familial Cancer, Clinical Genetics, Ophthalmic Genetics, and Genes, Chromosomes and Cancer. He also co-authored the NCBI genereview clinical guideline for diagnosis and management of the BAP1-tumor predisposition syndrome.
Nicholas Hayward
Professor Nicholas Hayward has studied the molecular genetics of melanoma for over 30 years. He was the first to carry out a linkage scan for melanoma susceptibility genes, to confirm the location of one such gene (CDKN2A), and to report mutations of CDKN2A in Australian families. He played key roles in the identification of CDK4, POT1, ACD, TERF2IP and MITF as melanoma susceptibility genes and in linkage and association scans for melanoma, pigmentation and nevi. Nick has also contributed significantly to understanding of the somatic mutations that drive melanocyte neoplasia, including the seminal finding of BRAF mutations in naevi, and MAP3K5, MAP3K9 and RAC1 mutations in cutaneous melanoma, and PLCB4 mutations in uveal melanoma.
Research of the Oncogenomics group spans genetics, epidemiology, molecular, cell biology and mouse models, and focuses on identifying high and low penetrance melanoma predisposition genes through linkage and genome-wide association studies, positional cloning and candidate gene analysis, as well as whole-genome and exome sequencing.
Additionally, a large part of the research program involves identification and characterisation of somatic mutations, structural aberrations, or gene expression differences associated with melanoma development and progression. The group has been integral to international efforts to characterise germline mutations in melanoma families and have published widely on somatic mutation of genes in melanoma, as well as the mapping of loci responsible for the melanoma-associated traits of naevi and pigmentation.