ASSOCIATE FACULTY MEMBER, UBC ORTHOPAEDICS
PROFESSOR, UBC SCHOOL OF PATHOLOGY AND LABORATORY MEDICINE
Division:
Reconstruction
Hospital Site:
Vancouver – Vancouver General Hospital
Professor Torsten O. Nielsen is a clinician-scientist pathologist who is an affiliated member of the Department of Orthopaedics. His clinical specialty is in bone & soft tissue pathology, where he acts as a provinical subspecialist handling cases at VGH and BC Cancer.
On the research side, Prof. Nielsen has two decades of grant-funded programs investigating musculoskeletal tumors, with a special focus on DNA translocation-driven sarcomas of adolescents & young adults. His work has led to the identification of molecular causes underpinning synovial sarcoma, tenosynovial giant cell tumor and epithelioid sarcoma, work which has led to clinical trials.
On the diagnostic side, he has brought into practice several novel diagnostic immunohistochemical stains, and developed nanoString-based molecular diagnostic tests for sarcomas that have substantially cut costs and turnaround time. Professor Nielsen is also the director of UBC’s combined MD/PhD program.
Research Interests & Publications
Research Interests:
- Sarcoma Molecular Oncology
- Cancer Epigenomics
- Biomarker Development
- Breast Cancer
- Clinical Trials
Publications:
Wang XQ, Goytain A, Dickson BC, Nielsen TO. Advances in sarcoma molecular diagnostics. Genes Chromosomes Cancer. 2022 Feb 3; 61(6)pp.332-345. PMID: 35064596
Wang XQ, Wang XQ, Hsu ATYW, Goytain A, Ng TLT, Nielsen TO. A Rapid and Cost-Effective Gene Expression Assay for the Diagnosis of Well-Differentiated and Dedifferentiated Liposarcomas. Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. 2021 Mar; 23(3)pp.274-284. PMID: 33346147
Nacev BA, Jones KB, Intlekofer AM, Yu JSE, Allis CD, Tap WD, Ladanyi M, Nielsen TO. The epigenomics of sarcoma. Nature Reviews Cancer. 20(10)pp.608-623.
Su L, Sampaio AV, Jones KB, Pacheco M, Goytain A, Lin S, Poulin N, Yi L, Rossi FM, Kast J, Capecchi MR, Underhill TM, Nielsen TO. Deconstruction of the SS18-SSX fusion oncoprotein complex: insights into disease etiology and therapeutics. Cancer Cell. 2012 Mar 20; 21(3):333-347. PMID: 22439931
Nielsen TO, West RB, Linn SC, Alter O, Knowling MA, O’Connell JX, Zhu S, Fero M, Sherlock G, Pollack JR, Brown PO, Botstein D, van de Rijn M. Molecular characterisation of soft tissue tumours: a gene expression study. Lancet. 2002 Apr 13. 359(9314):1301-1307. PMID: 11965276
For more information regarding Dr. Nielsen’s published research, please click here.
Teaching Interests
- Bone Pathology
- Soft Tissue Tumors
- Sarcoma Oncology
- Molecular Diagnostics
Academic Background
- FCAHS (Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences), 2023
- FRCPC Anatomical Pathology, The University of British Columbia, 2002
- MD/PhD, McGill University, 1997
- BSc, The University of British Columbia, 1991