Lucas A Salas, MD, MPH, PhD
Title(s)
Assistant Professor of Epidemiology
Additional Titles/Positions/Affiliations
Investigator Cancer Population Sciences Research Program, Dartmouth Hitchcock- Norris Cotton Cancer Center
Department(s)
Epidemiology
Education
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, PhD 2015
Universitat Pompeu Fabra, MPH 2011
Universidad de Antioquia, Epidemiology 2007
Universidad Nacional de Colombia, MD 2001
Programs
Quantitative Biomedical Sciences
Other
NIH Biosketch
Salas_L_BIO_2020-09-21.pdf
Websites
https:
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Academic Analytics
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Contact Information
Email: Lucas.A.Salas@Dartmouth.edu
Professional Interests
The broad goal of Dr. Salas research is to investigate how cell heterogeneity impacts human health and disease, with an emphasis on how genetic, environmental, and lifestyle factors model the human epigenome and therefore the cell plasticity. Dr. Salas’ laboratory studies how some key epigenetic mechanisms (DNA methylation, DNA hydroxymethylation, and miRNA alterations) affect gene expression and cancer outcomes, including how the immune cells are altered in this disease. Other research interests include biomarker development, chronic inflammation, and human disease, and how exposures during fetal life alter newborn and childhood outcomes.
Grant Information
W81XWH-20-1-0778, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Programs/Department of Defense
Salas Diaz, Lucas A (PI) 09/01/20-08/31/24
Epigenetic modifications of cytosines in clear cell kidney carcinogenesis and survival
P20 GM104416-09/8299, National Institute of General Medical Sciences
Salas Diaz, Lucas A (PI) 10/01/20-01/01/23
A single-cell approach to disentangle tumor microenvironments in short and long survivors to clear cell renal carcinoma
Courses Taught
QBS.132
CANB.103
MDED.118
QBS.271
PEMM.212
Mentoring Information
Current trainees:
Ze Zhang, QBS
Steven Pike, IND
Prasoona Karra, Ph.D. (postdoctoral fellow)
David Vargas-Estrella (Neurosciences '23)
Analysis of DNA methylation at birth and in childhood reveals changes associated with season of birth and latitude. Genome-scale methylation analysis identifies immune profiles and age acceleration associations with bladder cancer outcomes. Assessment of emerging pretraining strategies in interpretable multimodal deep learning for cancer prognostication. Normal gastric tissue Helicobacter pylori infection is associated with epigenetic age acceleration, increased mitotic tick rate, tissue cell composition, and Natural Killer cell methylation alterations. Hierarchical deconvolution for extensive cell type resolution in the human brain using DNA methylation. Calculating detection limits and uncertainty of reference-based deconvolution of whole-blood DNA methylation data. Down Syndrome Altered Cell Composition in Blood, Brain, and Buccal Swab Samples Profiled by DNA-Methylation-Based Cell-Type Deconvolution. Assessment of immune cell profiles among post-menopausal women in the Women's Health Initiative using DNA methylation-based methods. Inferring spatial transcriptomics markers from whole slide images to characterize metastasis-related spatial heterogeneity of colorectal tumors: A pilot study. HiTAIC: hierarchical tumor artificial intelligence classifier traces tissue of origin and tumor type in primary and metastasized tumors using DNA methylation. |