Dr. Amanda Paulovich is a leader in proteomics, the study of proteins — the cell’s workhorse molecules. Due to a lack of tools, proteomics has lagged behind the study of genes, which provide the blueprints for proteins. And just as a blueprint can’t tell you everything about a finished house, our genetic blueprint only reveals part of the biological picture. By developing powerful protein-measuring tools, Dr. Paulovich helps to fill in this picture and open the door to treatments tailored to individual cancer patients.

Her team has spearheaded the development of assays that use a technique called multiple reaction monitoring mass spectrometry, or MRM-MS, to detect and precisely measure the amount of a particular protein. This technology will help researchers combine detailed information about proteins with genetic data to learn, for instance, which genetic mutations drive a cancer’s development and suggest new therapeutic targets.

Appointments & Affiliations

Professor
Clinical Research Division, Fred Hutch

Aven Foundation Endowed Chair
Fred Hutch

Director, Clinical Research Proteomics Platform
Brotman Baty Institute for Precision Medicine

Professor, Department of Medicine, Division of Medical Oncology
University of Washington School of Medicine

Associate Faculty Member, Molecular and Cellular Biology Program
University of Washington

Education

Fellowship, Medical Oncology, Dana Farber Cancer Institute, 2004
Postdoctoral Fellowship, Computational Biology, MIT-Whitehead Center for Genomic Research, 2003
Residency, Internal Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital, 2000
M.D., University of Washington, 1998
Ph.D., Genetics, University of Washington, 1996
B.S., Biological Sciences, Carnegie Mellon University, 1988

While the current genome-centric approach to Precision Oncology has extended the lives of subsets of patients, many patients do not respond to the selected therapy, and many whose tumors initially respond have a high chance of recurrence as resistant disease. New approaches are required to capture complex clinical phenotypes and better match patients to efficacious therapies. Novel strategies will be discussed to identify NextGen diagnostics incorporating mass spectrometry-based protein assays.