Lay summary
Tumour-DNA sequencing offers a fishing net approach to identifying what genes have changed in a person's cancer and matching them to a potential treatment. Targeted gene panels can look at hundreds of known genes associated with cancer and not only identify individual genes which can be matched to specific therapies, but which can also be used to count the number of mutations in a specific tumour DNA sequence. This score is called the tumour mutation burden (TMB) which, if high enough, can be associated with good responses to immunotherapy in some chance types. Lung cancer, which is a significant Māori health priority, is a good example. For this summer studentship I will take a bioinformatic approach to examine an anticipated equity issue for Māori and Pacific cancer patients related to test accuracy. This research experience also offers a unique entry point to becoming a Māori bioinformatician.