Joseph Wiemels, PhD
Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences
Biography
The causes of most human cancers are unclear, but appear to be related to miscues in normal tissue developmental pathways, mutations (genetic and epigenetic) in critical genes caused by errors, infection, and chemicals, and a failure of recognition and removal of tumors by the immune system. Dr. Wiemels studies these factors as potential causes of hematopoietic and brain tumors. Large population-based studies of human cancer in California populations form a basis for examining the origin of these cancers, with a focus on future prevention. This type of research is highly collaborative, and Dr. Wiemels works with several epidemiologists, geneticists, clinicians, biologists, and statisticians.
Publications
Genome-wide trans-ethnic meta-analysis identifies novel susceptibility loci for childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
Leukemia. 2022 Mar;36(3):865-868. doi: 10.1038/s41375-021-01465-1. Epub 2021 Nov 8. PubMed PMID: 34750507;
Development of a Droplet Digital™ PCR DNA methylation detection and quantification assay of prenatal tobacco exposure.
Biotechniques. 2022 Mar 8;. doi: 10.2144/btn-2021-0099. Epub 2022 Mar 8. PubMed PMID: 35255733;
Clinical characteristics of cytomegalovirus-positive pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia at diagnosis.
Am J Hematol. 2022 Mar 14;. doi: 10.1002/ajh.26528. Epub 2022 Mar 14. PubMed PMID: 35285969;
Variant to function mapping at single-cell resolution through network propagation.
bioRxiv. 2022 Jan 24;. doi: 10.1101/2022.01.23.477426. Epub 2022 Jan 24. PubMed PMID: 35118467; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8811900.
Variant to function mapping at single-cell resolution through network propagation.
Nat Biotechnol. 2022 Jun 6;. doi: 10.1038/s41587-022-01341-y. Epub 2022 Jun 6. PubMed PMID: 35668323;
Courses Taught
- Genetic and Molecular Epidemiology