Research
Our research is focused on the study of cancer from a genomics perspective. We are particularly interested in the identification of cancer driver mutations, genes and pathways across tumour types and in the study of the mutational processes across tissues and genomic regions.
Studying clonal expansions in normal tissues
Somatic mutations also drive clonal expansions in normal tissues. With novel sequencing technologies we can identify somatic mutations in healthy tissues to study the relationship between clonal structure and cancer risk. As part of the Cancer Grand Challenge project PROMINENT we aim to understand the differences in the clonal architecture of normal tissues from donors with different lifelong exposures to cancer risk factors.
Clonal hematopoiesis is among the better studied cases of clonal expansions in normal tissues. We have identified blood somatic mutations in more than 12000 cancer patients. Repurposing methods of cancer genomics we identify genes and mutations driving clonal hematopoiesis chttp://www.intogen.org/ch).
