Indiana State University Newsroom

Genetics researcher Elaine Mardis will speak at Indiana State University as part of the 2013-14 University Speakers Series and the College of Arts and Sciences' Community Semester.

Mardis, professor of genetics and molecular biology and co-director of The Genome Institute at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, will discuss "Next Generation Cancer Genomics."

She has undertaken a cancer genome initiative that has analyzed 150 cancer cases, focusing primarily on acute myeloid leukemia, breast and lung cancers. Her presentation will describe the results of that analysis and technical advances developed during the project.

Mardis serves on several National Institutes of Health study sections, is an editorial board member of Genome Research and acts as a reviewer for Nature and Genome Research. She serves as chair of the Basic and Translational Sciences Committee for the American College of Surgeons Oncology Group, a National Cancer Institute-funded cooperative. She serves on the scientific advisory boards of Pacific Biosciences, Inc. and Edge Biosciences, Inc. In 2010 she received the Scripps Translational Research award for her work on cancer genomics.

Prior to joining the Washington University faculty, she was a senior research scientist at Bio-Rad Laboratories in Hercules, Calif. Mardis holds a bachelor's degree in zoology and doctoral degrees in chemistry and biochemistry from the University of Oklahoma.

She is scheduled to speak at 7 p.m. Jan. 28 in University Hall Theatre. Her free presentation is co-sponsored by the Center for Genomic Advocacy at Indiana State, an Unbounded Possibilities program. Unbounded Possibilities is a five-year, $5 million initiative to boost the university's most distinguished areas of study and expand community service.

Photo: http://www.indstate.edu/speaker/photodownload/Mardis1.jpg

Media contact: Dave Taylor, media relations director, Office of Communications and Marketing, Indiana State University, 812-237-3743 or dave.taylor@indstate.edu