BRCA1/2 Cancer Atlas
The mutations that cause cancer often arise spontaneously in somatic tissues but some are heritable. Among these mutations in BRCA1 or BRCA2 (BReast CAncer gene 1&2) stand out as having relatively high prevalence and causing a substantial increase in a variety of cancers including those of the breast, ovaries, pancreas and prostate. BRCA1 and BRCA2 are involved in the repair of damaged DNA but the precise events that initiate tumor formation are not fully understood.
Principal Investigators
- Joan Brugge, PhD, Director of the Harvard Ludwig Cancer Center and Professor of Cell Biology, Harvard Medical School
- Sandro Santagata, MD PhD, Associate Professor of Pathology, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School
- Peter Sorger, PhD, Professor of Systems Biology, Harvard Medical School
Publications

A human breast atlas integrating single-cell proteomics and transcriptomics.
Targeting immunosuppressive macrophages overcomes PARP inhibitor resistance in BRCA1-associated triple-negative breast cancer.
Clinical efficacy and molecular response correlates of the WEE1 inhibitor adavosertib combined with cisplatin in patients with metastatic triple-negative breast cancer.
Data Explorations
Data Explorations are like museum guides and exploit the digital docents in MINERVA to guide readers through the complexities of a large image dataset via a series of narrated stories and waypoints.
Data Overviews
Data Overviews provide access to minimally processed Level 2 images with no annotation or quality control. Click any of the following thumbnail images for an interactive view of the full-resolution images.
Funding
This research is funded by the Gray Foundation Basser Initiative, the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research, and the National Cancer Institute (NCI U54 CA225088).