Expression signatures of TP53 mutations in serous ovarian cancers.

My primary research interest has focused on on novel therapeutics, biomarkers and clinical trial development for ovarian and endometrial cancer. My fundamental goal is to develop a strong translational research program at Duke University in the Gynecologic Oncology Division, where knowledge we glean from our basic science research can be incorporated into our clinical trial program. Specifically, my focus is on biologic therapy and molecular biomarkers to direct therapy in patients with ovarian and endometrial cancers to determine if a strategy that incorporates both clinical and genomic information can improve clinical outcome, minimize unnecessary toxicity, and impact positively on quality of life.

In addition I am interested in robotic-assisted laparoscopic surgery for women with endometrial, ovarian and cervical cancers, as well as for benign gynecologic conditions.

Dr. Murphy is a tenured Associate Professor in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and serves as Chief of the Division of Reproductive Sciences. As a molecular biologist with training in human epigenetics, her research interests are largely centered around the role of epigenetic modifications in health and disease. 

Dr. Murphy has ongoing projects on gynecologic malignancies, including approaches to eradicate ovarian cancer cells that survive chemotherapy and later give rise to recurrent disease. Dr. Murphy is actively involved in many collaborative projects relating to the Developmental Origins of Health and Disease (DOHaD).

Her lab is currently working on preconception environmental exposures in males, particularly on the impact of cannabis on the sperm epigenome and the potential heritability of these effects. They are also studying the epigenetic and health effects of in utero exposures, with primary focus on children from the Newborn Epigenetics STudy (NEST), a pregnancy cohort she co-founded who were recruited from central North Carolina between 2005 and 2011. Dr. Murphy and her colleagues continue to follow NEST children to determine relationships between prenatal exposures and later health outcomes.

Bayesian statistical modeling with application to problems in genetic
epidemiology and cancer research; models for epidemiological risk
assessment, including hierarchical methods for combining related
epidemiological studies; ascertainment corrections for high risk
family data; analysis of high-throughput genomic data sets.

I have been engaged in basic and applied cancer research for over 28 years beginning with my post-doctoral fellowship under Arnold Levine at Princeton. Since being appointed to the faculty in the Department of Surgery at Duke, my primary interest has been towards understanding breast and ovarian cancer. I am a charter member of the NCI-Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) and have been an integral scientist in the breast and gynecologic collaborative group for 15 years including leading this group for a 5 year period. I am also a major contributor to the Cancer Genome Atlas and have worked in this context for the past 4 years. My research interests are in the molecular etiology of these diseases and understanding how key genetic events contribute to their onset and progression. My work has been very multi-disciplinary incorporating quantitative, population, genetic, and behavioral approaches.  I consider my specialty to be in the area of using human breast and ovarian cancer as the primary and only authentic model system to understand these diseases.  

Dr. Andrew Berchuck is Director of the Duke Division of Gynecologic Oncology and holds the James M. Ingram Distinguished Professorship. He is a practicing oncologist who is actively involved in the surgical and chemotherapy management of women with ovarian, endometrial and lower genital tract cancers. This includes minimally invasive laparoscopic surgical approaches. He also has developed a research program that focuses on the molecular-genetic alterations involved in malignant transformation of the ovarian and endometrial epithelium. He has published over 300 peer-reviewed papers in these areas. The objectives of his research include 1) identification of ovarian cancer susceptibility polymorphisms through a population-based case-control molecular epidemiologic study, and 2) use of genomic approaches  to elucidate the molecular heterogenetity of ovarian cancer. Thirty fellows and residents have worked in his lab, several of whom are now funded investigators. His research efforts have been recognized nationally and he has received awards for best oral presentation at the annual meetings of both the Society of Gynecologic Oncology and the International Gynecologic Cancer Society. Dr. Berchuck was awarded the Barbara Thomason Ovarian Cancer Research Professorship by the American Cancer Society in 2006. He has served as editor of several books in the field including Principles and Practice of Gynecologic Oncology. Dr. Berchuck also has a major commitment to national activities, and was President of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology in 2008. He served as chair of the scientific advisory committee of the Ovarian Cancer Research Fund (http://www.ocrf.org) in New York City. Finally, he is also head of the steering committee of the international Ovarian Cancer Association Consortium (OCAC), a group of 50 case-control studies that are working together to identify ovarian cancer susceptibility polymorphisms (www.srl.cam.ac.uk/consortia/ocac/index.html).