*Dissertation Defense Announcement:
To:  The George Mason University Community*

*Ganiraju Manyam
PhD Biosciences Candidate
*
*Date:   Tuesday December 1, 2009
Time:   11:30 a.m. 
Place:  George Mason University, Prince William campus
	     Occoquan Bldg, Room 203 
 
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Ancha Baranova

Title: **"Global Patterns of Changes in the Gene Expression Associated With Genesis of Cancer"

*

*A copy of the dissertation is on reserve in the Johnson Center Library, 
Fairfax campus.  The doctoral project will not be read at the meeting, 
but should be read in advance. *

*All members of the George Mason University community are invited to 
attend.*


            ABSTRACT

Cancer arises from a stepwise accumulation of genetic changes through 
expansion of the malignant cell clones in the population of 
pre-malignant cells undergoing the Darwinian selection process. In other 
words, cancer is an outcome of continuous and random acquisition of the 
changes in the genomes of individual cells. These modifications 
gradually and progressively change the phenotype of the normal cell 
making it more malignant through a loss of an overall stability of 
genome. To gain the comprehension of the mechanisms underlying tumor 
development, a number of high-throughput expression studies have been 
performed. The objective of the current study is to use publicly 
available datasets in order to analyze the most general features of the 
malignant cell, thus, investigating molecular phenomena common for all 
tumor cells, with no regard to the characteristics related to tumor's 
tissue of origin. Thus, we analyzed and compared the transcript 
diversity patterns in tumor and normal cells, studied an expression of 
the genes located adjacent to the telomeres and provided evidence for 
the hypothesis that tumor state behaves as stable "attractor" state. An 
intermediate regulatory framework hypothesis implying a set of local 
"vantage point" genes that control the transcription of all other genes 
in a semi-democratic fashion has been endorsed.