Driven by a desire to enhance his skills in gene curation and deepen his understanding of cancer genomics, Luke Tork undertook a TAGC (The Advanced Genomics Collaboration) internship with the University of Melbourne Centre for Cancer Research's variant curation team, which ultimately led to a job in the team.
Eager to supplement his Master of Genome Analytics at Monash University with practical experience, Luke aimed to gain the expertise necessary to accurately and consistently analyze patient cases—striving to improve the well-being and health of others through the application of genomic science.
“My internship focussed on cancer gene analysis, through the curation of circulating tumour DNA assays,” said Luke.
Variant curation teams identify, interpret and classify genetic variants, to understand how genetic differences influence cancer risk, progression and treatment response. This information is reported back to clinicians to support clinical decision making.
The University of Melbourne Centre for Cancer Research variant curation team is led by Dr Joep Vissers, and services the TAGC Clinical Genomics Platform. Luke was jointly supervised by Dr Vissers and curation scientist Dr Camilla Thornton.
“One of the most valuable things I took from this internship was practical variant interpretation skills, such as being able to critically evaluate evidence for a genetic variant's pathogenicity, and to interpret the clinical implications of having a specific gene mutation - such as trial and drug eligibility, diagnostic and prognostic utility.”
“While I had prior knowledge of genomics and biotechnology, my understanding of cancer science and protein functional studies was limited.”
“This internship helped me further develop my knowledge and skills related to these areas, and apply them at a professional level.”
Exposure to emerging technologies, such as ctDNA and whole genome-transcriptome sequencing, was the most exciting element of the internship.
Luke said that the internship also prepared him for work, allowing him to further develop and fine-tune skills such as communication, planning and organisation, and problem solving.
He is now employed as a curation scientist within Dr Vissers team – enabled through the experience he gained during his internship.
“The internship influenced me to continue persuing a career in genomic curation science – I have become more passionate about genomics and cancer science, and really enjoy all of the work involved.”