GENE-INTERACTIONS IN CANCER
Cancer is a complex, group of diseases and our risk is modulated by both our environment and our genes. The goal of the GENIC Research Lab is to explore and examine the interplay between our genes and environment, as well as the interplay between different genes, and how they modify cancer risk.
The GENIC Research Laboratory is housed within the Department of Mathematics & Statistics at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, NS. We are proudly associated with the Beatrice Hunter Cancer Research Institute, Atlantic Partnership for Tomorrow’s Health, and BC Cancer, and our work has been generously supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, BHCRI, and Research NS.
Research
Current research focuses on examining the risk factors associated with colorectal and breast cancer. Environmental exposures, genetic susceptibilities, and higher-order (gene-gene) interactions play an important role in modify cancers of all types; however, the interplay between (e.g. gene-environment interactions) and within (e.g. gene-gene interactions) increases the complexity and challenges associated with cancer and genetic epidemiology.
Other areas of interest include predictive modelling, occupational exposure assessment, and bioinformatic.
Teaching
It’s more than just standard deviations or whether the median is better than the mean. Do you know why or how the pollsters in the 2016 US election got it so wrong? Did you know Target™ found out a teen girl was pregnant before her father? These events show the importance of sampling and the of the power of predictive analytics, which is a part of inferential statistics.
Learn more about introductory statistics, probability theory, mathematical statistics, and regression analysis.
Consulting Services
How do I randomize my experiment? Should I even have to do a randomization? To analyze my data, should I use a logistic or that fish regression method, and should I use R or SPSS or minitab?
Answers: (1) That can be done using a random number generator, (2) Probably yes, (3) Depends on the data, the outcome, and I think you mean poisson, but yes it is french for fish, (4) R – yes, SPSS – yes, minitab – no, just no.
Need help? Drop me a line and we can talk more.
GENIC Research Laboratory 