Sara Byron Ph.D.

Dr. Sara Byron is a Research Assistant Professor in the Integrated Cancer Genomics Division at TGen. Her research interests center on understanding the molecular mechanisms whereby aberrations in oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes lead to tumorigenesis, evaluating the clinical consequences of aberrant pathway activation in cancer, and investigating the genetic context associated with sensitivity and resistance to inhibition of pathways dysregulated in cancer. Dr. Byron received her Ph.D. in Pharmacology from the University of Minnesota, where she studied insulin-like growth factor receptor signaling in breast cancer under the direction of Dr. Douglas Yee. She joined TGen as a postdoctoral fellow in 2006, working with Dr. Pamela Pollock to investigate the molecular mechanisms and biological consequences of FGFR2 mutations in various tumor types, including endometrial cancer, ovarian cancer, and melanoma, and then with Dr. Suwon Kim exploring the influence of chromatin modifications on pathway regulation in breast cancer. Dr. Byron joined the Integrated Cancer Genomics Division at TGen in 2013 as part of the precision medicine team. Her main efforts focus on applying TGen’s precision medicine platform to glioblastoma as part of the Ivy Foundation Genomics–Enabled Medicine for Glioblastoma Clinical Trial. Her work centers on content analysis of exome and RNA-sequencing data and knowledgebase development to map drug-gene relationships and pharmacological considerations (such as predicted blood brain barrier penetration) for indicated therapeutics to identify clinically actionable vulnerabilities.