Dr. Laura Williamson is Clinical Informatics Team Lead at the GSC. In this role, she leads genome analysts that coalesce and interpret data generated from high throughput bioinformatic analyses of patient tumour sequencing data, in particular for BC Cancer’s Personalized OncoGenomics (POG) program and the Terry Fox Research Institute’s Precision Oncology for Young People (PROFYLE) project. The Clinical Informatics team also supports bioinformatics groups in the development and implementation of methods of integrative analysis, and collaborates with clinicians to promote knowledge translation.
Dr. Williamson conducted her doctoral research at the University of Calgary where she investigated the effect of hormone-mediated signalling on the DNA damage response in preclinical models of breast cancer. Subsequently she completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the Francis Crick Institute where she uncovered a novel transcription response to DNA damage. Her research led to the discovery of a long non-coding RNA generated by alternative splicing of a protein-coding gene; the associated publication was recognized as among the top 10 most read articles in the journal Cell in 2017. Dr. Williamson joined the GSC in 2017, leveraging her expertise and knowledge in the fields of cancer biology and DNA damage and repair for tumour sequencing projects.