Dr. Farazi’s research focuses on understanding the complex interactions of genetic and environmental factors in cancer development as well as identification of biomarkers for the early detection of cancer. Her work involves multi-disciplinary research to study the genetic and environmental contributions to cancer by utilizing genetic and systems epidemiology as well as mouse modeling approaches. Her current research includes studying the connection between diabetes, obesity and cancer (with special emphasis on liver and pancreatic cancer) in mouse models and identification of biomarkers for early detection of these cancers. Furthermore, she is applying systems epidemiology approaches to understand how interacting genetic and environmental risk factors (with a strong focus on pollution and nutrition) contribute to breast and pancreatic cancer development. Ultimately, these approaches will be used to study gene-environment interactions in other cancer types such as liver, lung and colorectal cancer. Understanding the interactions between genetic and environmental risk factors is essential for cancer prevention and control.
