Graduate course brings federal health experts into the classroom

When scientists want the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) approval for a new treatment for cancers that start in the bone marrow, they reach out to Kelly Norsworthy.

Norsworthy is the director of the Division of Hematologic Malignancies I in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. She will visit Virginia Tech's laboratories in Washington, D.C., on April 23 to share insights on the regulation of targeted therapies for patients with myeloid malignancies. 

As part of the visit, Norsworthy will offer graduate students an inside look into careers with the FDA. They also will have an opportunity to participate in a case study based on the approval of one targeted drug for acute myeloid leukemia.

Her guest lecture is part of the Translational Biology, Medicine, and Health Graduate Program’s (TBMH) course taught in Washington, D.C.

Laura Dillon, research associate professor, studies acute myeloid leukemia in the institute’s Cancer Research Center in Washington, D.C., and guides the course in Translational Cancer Genomics.

Norsworthy, who oversees applications for therapeutics for acute and chronic leukemias, is one of several guest lecturers participating in the course, which Dillon said “offers unique access and the ability to bring in experts from many different fields because of our location in the D.C. area.”

A course designed around a city

The course reflects Virginia Tech’s growing presence in the greater Washington, D.C., area. With the National Institutes of Health and the FDA both roughly 6 miles away, the university has access to federal research expertise. At a glance, the course:

• Is taught through a series of lectures by subject-matter experts, including scientists from the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, Children's National Hospital, FDA, National Institutes of Health (NIH), George Washington University, and Sanford Imagenetics
• Incorporates unique hands-on learning opportunities, including laboratory-based exercises and a workshop on the NIH-supported UCSC Genome Browser
• Utilizes case-based learning, allowing for an active, student-centered approach to bridge theoretical knowledge with application in the patient setting

“The TBMH program has been thrilled with the exciting growth of the Cancer Research Center in Washington, D.C., and the addition of world-class researchers, including Laura Dillon, to our teaching faculty,” said John Chappell, director of the graduate program and associate professor at the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute in Roanoke. “By pioneering this course, Dillon is offering our students insight into cutting-edge cancer care and invaluable connections with researchers working at some of the highest levels of academia, industry, and government.”

Dillon, who joined Virginia Tech from the NIH in 2025, helped shape the course to give students structured engagement with scientists working in academic institutes and the federal cancer research ecosystem. 

“I tried to bring in people from different areas and expertise,” Dillon said. “We have basic scientists, clinicians, and lab directors who run clinical labs, so students can see many different ways genetics is applied in cancer.”

Genomic medicine and cancer care

Genomic data now informs how most cancers are diagnosed, staged, and treated.

The ability to sequence a tumor's DNA and identify the mutations driving its growth has produced a new class of targeted therapies. As that shift toward more personalized medicine accelerates, graduate students are learning how genomic findings move through the laboratory, the clinic, and the regulatory process to reach patients.

Dillon transformed the course to cover that full range. Beginning with genomics fundamentals and cancer biology, the course moves through genetic alteration types, laboratory techniques, bioinformatics, and biostatistics before arriving at targeted therapy development and the regulatory pathway by which genomic discoveries become approved treatments.

“While I plan for my career to focus on wet lab work, my research will still be guided by the knowledge gained by those who do genomics research,” said Aidan Erwin, a second-year graduate student enrolled in the course. “Understanding translational genomics and how to interpret that data is key to my success as a scientist.”

Student groups are assigned a hypothetical leukemia patient whose profile is revealed incrementally as the course progresses. As they learn new material, students use genomic data to apply each new concept in a personalized medicine approach. 

“They're all patients with acute myeloid leukemia who technically have the same disease, but the genetics can be different,” Dillon said. “Students are learning how genetics influences the way a cancer patient is diagnosed, what their prognosis is, and how clinicians tailor the subsequent treatment course.”

At the end of the semester, each team will present its patient case and propose an experimental design to investigate an open clinical question about the case.

A hands-on training

The course includes a full-day bioinformatics workshop led by Robert Kuhn, one of the original developers of the University of California, Santa Cruz, Genome Browser, a public platform used internationally in both research and clinical genomics settings. The workshop included hands-on exercises in which participants worked through the tool's features using real genomic data.

Dillon attended the same workshop while at the NIH. Although she was already familiar with the browser and used it regularly, she said the experience changed her approach. “I wish I knew all of the features of the genome browser when I was starting as a graduate student,” she said. “I wanted to set up our students with the knowledge that would empower them as they start their research journeys.”

After the workshop, students completed two days of hands-on laboratory training at the institute’s Cancer Research Center in Washington, D.C., constructing next-generation sequencing libraries using state-of-the-art instruments. The data they generated are then used in the course's next module, where students analyze their own sequencing output to identify mutations relevant to cancer.

Many university research programs outsource genomic sequencing, Dillon said.  Students typically receive data without any direct experience of how it was produced. “They often ship the sample out somewhere, and someone loads it on an instrument, and they send you back this data, and you have no idea how it was ever made.”

She wanted a different approach. “Seeing is believing,” Dillon said.

“I especially appreciate how the course exposes us to emerging techniques and perspectives that are gaining attention as well as more foundational techniques,” said Shubhangi Garg, a bioinformatician enrolled in the graduate program. Garg hopes to work in the biotechnology and pharmaceutical field upon earning her doctorate.

“As a student, the class is strengthening my ability to analyze and interpret complex data,” Garg said. “As a scientist, it is shaping my ability to think about how research can be translated into meaningful clinical and industry applications.”