Background

Somatic mutations are small DNA errors that accumulate in the genome of ageing cells. These mutations sporadically result in a cellular growth advantage, especially when they occur in cancer genes. The sequential accumulation of these so-called driver mutations eventually leads to the formation of malignant tumors. Recent evidence suggests that they also underlie micro-clone formation in multiple histologically normal epithelial tissues, providing new insights in early human carcinogenesis.

What we do

We aim to characterize the somatic mutational landscape of the human body using post-mortem tissues obtained from clinically well-annotated whole-body donors, using different DNA and RNA sequencing approaches.

Who is involved

Tom
Luijts

PhD Student

Sofie
Hoogstoel

PhD Student

Jimmy
Van den Eynden

Principal Investigator

Research output