Bernard Omolo, associate professor of mathematics,presented  a paper entitled “ A prognostic signature of defective p53-dependent G1 checkpoint function in melanoma cell-lines” during the Joint Statistical Meetings (JSM) 2012 in San Diego, Calif. on August 1.

The paper describes a method for estimating p53 signaling function in melanomas from a signature of gene expression. Successful therapy for metastatic cancer often depends upon p53-dependent apoptosis and so it is important to determine p53 function in primary lesions. The signature was prognostic for the development of distant metastases in patients with melanoma.

Also, on July 24, 2012, Omolo gave a keynote talk on the manuscript entitled “ A Bayesian hierarchical model for correlation in microarray studies” at the Strathmore International Math Research  Conference, in Nairobi, Kenya.  The model would be useful in the assessment of reproducibility or consistency  of two microarray gene expression datasets produced at different labs or at different times.