Dr.
Lam, Wan
BSc, MSc, PhD, (Dalhousie Univ), MRC
Academic Ranks(s):
Professor, UBC, Director, Interdisciplinary Oncology Program, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
Affiliations(s):
Dr. Wan Lam is a Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of British Columbia. He is Deputy Head and a Distinguished Scientist in the Department of Integrative Oncology at the BC Cancer Research Centre. He received his PhD in Biochemistry at Dalhousie University with National Academy of Sciences member Dr. W. Ford Doolittle and trained as a post-doctoral fellow with Nobel Laureate Dr. Walter Gilbert at Harvard University. He received the William E. Rawls Prize from the Canadian Cancer Society for his work. Dr. Lam is internationally recognized for his work investigating the genetic and epigenetic basis of a wide variety of cancers, especially in lung cancer. He has produced nearly 300 peer-reviewed publications and holds patents on signatures for prognosis and therapy responsiveness in lung cancer. His lab has provided academic training for over 60 graduates and post-doctoral fellows to date, many of whom have since established themselves in leading clinical and health research positions.
Current Appointments
- Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, UBC
- Director, Interdisciplinary Oncology Program, Faculty of Medicine, UBC
Academic Background
- Postdoctoral Research Associate (Molecular and Cellular Biology) Harvard University. 1994-1998
- MRC Postdoctoral Fellow (Cellular and Developmental Biology) Harvard University. 1991-1994
- PhD (Biochemistry) Dalhousie University. 1991
- BSc and MSc (Microbiology), University of Alberta. 1983, 1986
Awards and Recognition
Publications
Publications are listed at http://www.bccrc.ca/dept/ic/genetics/dr.-wan-lam-phd
- Ishkanian AS, Malloff CA, Watson SK, DeLeeuw RJ, Chi B, Coe BP, Snijders A, Albertson DG, Pinkel D, Marra MA, Ling V, MacAulay, C, Lam WL (2004) A tiling resolution DNA microarray with complete coverage of the human genome. Nature Genetics 36: 299-303.
- Weber M, Davies JJ, Wittig D, Haase M, Lam WL, Schübeler D (2005) Chromosome-wide and promoter-specific analyses reveal sites of differential DNA methylation in normal and transformed human cells. Nature Genetics 37: 853-62.
- Aviel-Ronen S, Coe BP, Lau SK, da Cunha Santos G, Zhu CQ, Strumpf D, Jurisica I, Lam WL, Tsao MS (2008) Genomic markers for malignant progression in pulmonary adenocarcinoma with bronchioloalveolar features. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 105: 10155-60.
- Starczynowski D, Kuchenbauer F, Argiropoulos B, Sung S, Morin R, Muranyi A, Hirst M, Hogge D, Marra M, Wells R, Lam W, Humphries K, Karsan A (2010) Identification of miR-145 and miR-146a as mediators of the 5q- syndrome phenotype. Nature Medicine 16: 49-58.
- Vucic, EA, Thu KL, Robison K, Rybaczyk L, Chari R, Alvarez CE, Lam WL (2012) Translating cancer omics to outcomes. Genome Research 22:188-95.
- Pikor LA, Lockwood WW, Thu KL, Vucic EA, Chari R, Gazdar AF, Lam S, Lam WL (2013) YEATS4 is a novel oncogene amplified in non-small cell lung cancer that regulates the p53 pathway. Cancer Research 73:7301-12.
- Martinez VD, Vucic EA, Thu KL, Hubaux R, Enfield KSS, Pikor LA, Becker-Santos DD, Brown CJ, Lam S, Lam WL (2015) Unique somatic and malignant expression patterns implicate PIWI-interacting RNAs in cancer-type specific biology. Scientific Reports 5:10423, 1-17.
- Conway EM, Pikor LA, Kung SHY, Hamilton M, Lam S, Lam WL, Bennewith KL (2016) Macrophages, inflammation and lung cancer. American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine 193:116-30.
- Becker-Santos DD, Thu KL, English JC, Pikor LA, Martinez VD, Zhang M, Vucic EA, Luk MT, Carraro A, Korbelik J, Piga D, Lhomme NM, Tsay MJ, Yee J, MacAulay CE, Lam S, Lockwood WW, Robinson WP, Jurisica I, Lam WL (2016) Developmental transcription factor NFIB is a putative target of oncofetal miRNAs and is associated with tumour aggressiveness in lung adenocarcinoma. Journal of Pathology 240:161-72.
- Minatel BC, Sage AP, Anderson C, Hubaux R, Marshall EA, Lam WL, Martinez VD (2017) Environmental arsenic exposure: genetic and epigenetic contributions to carcinogenesis. Environment International 112:183-197.
- Ng KW, Marshall EA, Bell JC, Lam WL (2018) The emerging tumorigenic capacity of cGAS-STING. Trends in Immunology 39:44-54.
Research Interest
- Cancer progression
- Genome biology
- Epigenetics
- Molecular Systems Biology
- Lung Cancer
- Technology Development
- Dr. Lam’s primary research interest is in understanding the events leading to cancer progression. Early detection and treatment is key to a favorable prognosis in cancer. His laboratory at the British Columbia Cancer Research Centre (http://www.bccrc.ca/dept/ic/genetics) has developed novel whole genome approaches for tracking genetic, epigenetic and gene expression changes in order to identify genes and pathways critical to cancer progression and signatures for treatment response.