DCEG scientists form collaborative working groups to enhance the exchange of information and support interdisciplinary approaches to epidemiological and genetic research. Working groups draw their members from across the Division and other organizations in NCI, enabling them to apply a wide range of expertise to the study of complex questions. Examples include:
- The Alcohol and Cancer Interest Group discusses a wide variety of topics concerning the relationship of alcohol consumption/alcohol reduction to cancer risk, including: the mechanisms by which alcohol increases cancer risk, effects of alcohol reduction/cessation, and biomarkers related to alcohol consumption. The group strives to identify gaps in knowledge and relevant research resources. Contacts: Yukiko Yano, Katherine McGlynn
- The Bioinformatics Virtual Core Journal Club offers a variety of activities designed to promote learning, skill development, and knowledge exchange among its members, including identifying and evaluating new methods and technologies, and supporting best practices following FAIR (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) principles.
Contact: Wendy Wong - The Breast Patho-Epidemiology Working Group fosters the exchange of ideas and expertise among investigators from DCEG, NCI, and the extramural community to address important questions in breast cancer research—with a particular interest in modern techniques for measuring breast tumor heterogeneity—through leveraging existing resources and identifying new research opportunities.
Contact: Gretchen Gierach - The Cancer Conundrum Working Group aims to catalyze new trans-divisional projects to explore the etiology of well-accepted but as yet unexplained observations in cancer epidemiology. Rotating topics are nominated by DCEG investigators.
Contact: Christian Abnet - The Interest Group for Causal Inference is a forum for the collective, critical appraisal of research designs, analytic methods, and evidence quality to encourage the application of sound, cutting-edge epidemiologic methods.
Contacts: Alexander Keil, Erikka Loftfield - The Data Science and Engineering Research Working Group (a.k.a. Cloud4Bio Hackathons) combines systems biology, computational statistics, artificial intelligence, and software engineering for biomedical applications to investigate epidemiologic and genetic causes of cancer and to advance Cloud Computing infrastructure for Precision Prevention. Visit the DCEG Data Science & Engineering working group on GitHub.
Contact: Jonas Almeida - The Descriptive Epidemiology Working Group promotes research to understand cancer incidence, survival, and mortality by sharing descriptive epidemiology research conducted within DCEG or by outside experts; discussing novel statistical techniques that can be applied in descriptive studies; and sharing information about population-based data resources that can be used in descriptive studies. Visit the descriptive epidemiology research page.
Contact: Meredith Shiels - The Digital Molecular Pathology Interest Group is focused on education, communication and sharing all aspects of digital and molecular pathology. Topics include available resources, new technologies, analytic approaches (including machine and deep learning applications), and presentations from investigators utilizing digital and molecular pathology in their research.
Contacts: Mustapha Abubakar, Aaron Rozeboom, Scott Lawrence - The Epidemiologic and Statistical Methods Working Group aims to catalyze new trans-divisional projects to address novel epidemiologic and statistical methods. Rotating topics are nominated by DCEG investigators.
Contact: Paul Albert - The Geographic Analysis Working Group facilitates the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques to investigate causes of cancer and brings together epidemiologists, statisticians, and geographers who are interested in geospatial analyses to share their research and to discuss geospatial methods and its applications to cancer epidemiology studies.
Contact: Rena Jones - The Genetic Mosaicism Working Group brings together a community of DCEG investigators, fellows, and staff with an interest in clonal genetic mosaicism for stimulating collaboration by reviewing recent advances in detection methods and recently published association findings for genetic mosaicism, presenting ongoing work, and assisting with the conduct of studies.
Contact: Mitchell Machiela - The Microbiome Working Group evaluates methods for application in large-scale microbiome studies and promotes etiologic studies of the human microbiota and cancer risk. Goals include helping to develop state-of-the-art microbiome research for etiologic studies, discussing new ideas for studies, and bringing together a diverse group of individuals to tackle issues related to microbiome research.
Contact: Rashmi Sinha - The PFAS Working Group initiates, coordinates, and provides guidance to DCEG research on PFAS and cancer. Emphasis is placed on overcoming challenges to conducting research and initiating studies to address gaps in the DCEG PFAS research portfolio.
Contact: Jonathan Hofmann - The Risk Prediction Working Group discusses statistical methodologic issues in model building and validation, ongoing risk modeling activities, and applications of risk models to aid in clinical decision-making and in addressing public health questions.
Contact: Ruth Pfeiffer - The Survivorship/Multiple Primaries Working Group provides opportunities for researchers to present proposed study ideas and current research findings, discuss methodology, and prioritize research areas related to the etiology of multiple primary cancers. Goals include advancing research on cancer survivorship, and facilitating cross-branch collaboration.
Contacts: Lindsay Morton, Cody Ramin, Sara Schonfeld, Shahinaz Gadalla, Jacqueline Vo