
Mari Olsen
Research Associate
Pancreatic cancer is the fourth leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the US.
The 5-year survival rate is less than 5%. Most of these cancers are adenocarcinomas
which are thought to be derived from the pancreatic ducts. Early diagnosis is
difficult because of the relative lack of symptoms until the disease is far advanced
and it can only be sampled using invasive procedures. There is an urgent need for
markers which can be used for early diagnosis. Our goal is to identify genes useful
in understanding the disease pathogenesis and identify genes which may be used as
markers. To achieve this, we are using cDNA microarrays to study the gene expression
profile of pancreatic adenocarcinomas.
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