Precision Medicine for Vascular Anomalies

Speaker:

James T. Bennett, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Department of Lab Medicine and Pathology (Adjunct), University of Washington/Seatthe Children's Hospital

Contact Hours:

1.0

Date:

January 23, 2025 - January 31, 2026

Description:
The concept of the "personalized genome" is pervasive in human genetics. There is an ever-increasing armament of diagnostic tests designed to detect, record, and interpret genetic variation in DNA. An implicit assumption of blood-based sequencing is that the genomes of the cells in a single sample represent the genomes of every other cell in the body. However, every multicellular organism has multiple genomes due to somatic mutations. This webinar discusses "VANSeq," a diagnostic assay for isolated vascular malformations, explores intralesional signaling, non-invasive "liquid biopsies," and summarizes new attempts to catalogue somatic mutation in a larger cohort of humans, as part of the SMaHT initiative.
Learning Objectives:
  1. Recognize the limitations of routine blood-based exome and genome sequencing for individuals with vascular malformations.
  2. Describe the two main factors that go into successful molecular diagnoses of vascular malformations.
  3. Consider the implicit assumption in all blood-based genetic tests.