Research

The overall goal of the Ostrom Lab is to identify factors that increase the risk of developing a brain tumor as well as those that affect prognosis after diagnosis.

Specifically, our research focuses on:

1. using population-level cancer registry data for surveillance and risk factor discovery
2. discovering sources of germline genetic risk for brain tumors, and
3. understanding the relationship between immune traits and brain tumor risk and survival.

We approach these questions through a research program of interrelated projects and application of novel analytic techniques, leveraging data from prospective epidemiological studies, genetic data, cancer registry data, insurance claims data, electronic health records data, and other related data sources.

Here are some themes that we currently work on:

Population-based statistics for primary brain tumors

The Ostrom lab is the primary data analysis center for the Central Brain Tumor Registry of the United States, a resources which provides data on newly diagnosed primary brain tumors for ~99.9% of the United States from 2000-2020.

We produce an annual statistical report published in Neuro-Oncology.

In addition to this, we use the CBTRUS data and other related cancer registry datasets for scientific projects related to our other themes. Recently this includes development of a package for estimating complete prevalence of cancer from incomplete data: prevEst, as well as a recode of primary brain and CNS tumor histopathologies for use by other researchers.

Identifying risk factors for primary brain tumors

We are interested in identifying individual, genetic, and environmental factors that affect individual risk of deveoping a brain tumor. Recent projects in this area have included:

• Exploring the role of autoimmunity in glioma risk, including identifying antecorrelated genetic architecture for glioma and autoimmune disease.
• The impact of genetic ancestry, and/or race/ethnicity on risk for brain tumors, particularly glioma and meningioma.
• The impact of socioeconomic factors on risk of meningioma and pituitary tumors.

Epidemiology of brain metastasis

Metastatic brain tumors are the most common type of malignancy that occurs in the brain, and represent an increasing source of cancer morbidity and mortality as new treatments extend survival in cancers that commonly metastasize to the brain (e.g. lung cancer, melanoma, and breast cancer). We are interested in identifying individuals at variable risk for development of brain metastatis, as well as factors that affect overall survival in those that develop metastatic brain tumors.

We love collaborating!

Reach out to Dr. Ostrom via email if you have ideas for potential ways we could work together.

CBTRUS-specific data requests can be submitted on the CBTRUS website.