Cancer is a genetic disease, and from all the differences between cancer and normal cells it is the genetic alterations present in the cancer cells that unequivocally distinguish them from the normal cells. Such genetic alterations provide exquisite specificity as biomarkers and pinpoint targets for the development of therapeutics. Our group has focused on: a) applying genome-wide approaches, such as high-throughput, massively parallel sequencing, for the identification of genetic changes on specific genes involved in the development and progression of cancer; and b) using this knowledge for the development of clinically applicable methods for early diagnostics, companion diagnostics, monitoring of disease, and therapeutics for cancer.