Lecture in Genomics and Human Genetics: Understanding Transmissible Cancer in Tasmanian Devils

Dr. Katherine Belov, Professor of Comparative Genomics at the Faculty of Veterinary Science of the University of Sydney and contributing author of the 2012 Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics, talks about her article "A Comparative Genomics Approach to Understanding Transmissible Cancer in Tasmanian Devils," which she co-wrote with Dr. Janine E. Deakin, ARC Future Fellow at the Research School of Biology at the Australian National University. In this lecture, Prof. Belov discusses the origins of the Devil Facial Tumor Disease (DFTD), a transmissible cancer that has already caused the disappearance of 85 percent of the species and could lead to its extinction in the wild within 25 years. She explains what is known of the tumor based on its genomics, why it is transmitted between animals without causing immune recognition in the devils, and what are the conservation efforts to save the species from extinction.