“From Genomics to Precision Medicine in Multiple Myeloma: Building integrative models across data, biology, and clinical decision-making”

SHORT BIO:  Dr. Laganà is an Assistant Professor of Oncological Sciences (scienze oncologiche) and Genetics and Genomic sciences. at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. His main research interests are in the fields of integrative cancer genomics, cancer network biology, and precision oncology.The aim of his research is the development and application of computational methods for the integrative analysis of multi-omics data in order to:

• Investigate the role of coding and non-coding alterations in cancer pathogenesis and progression;
• Understand the clinical implications of intra-tumor heterogeneity and the tumor microenvironment;
• Improve patient risk stratification;
• Develop personalized therapy selection approaches guided by next-generation sequencing technologies.

Dr. Laganà’s current research focuses on Multiple Myeloma, a genetically complex and heterogeneous malignancy of bone marrow plasma cells affecting more than 30,000 patients each year in the United States. The causal drivers of Myeloma pathogenesis are still not fully understood, and treatment is generally administered empirically based on recurrence risk rather than specific genetic events. Dr. Laganà is leading the development of a precision medicine pipeline that has been successfully applied in a clinical trial to guide the treatment of patients with relapsed Multiple Myeloma. The goal of precision oncology is to design optimal treatment strategies tailored to the specific characteristics of each patient’s disease. However, the widespread heterogeneity among cancer patients and variability in drug response pose significant challenges in the design of effective personalized treatments. Dr. Laganà’s research addresses this critical challenge and aims to transform the current paradigm of empirical clinical practice. The systematic use of integrative genomics, systems biology approaches, big data analytics, and novel sequencing technologies will enable physicians to deliver more precise and effective personalized cancer therapies.