Mutant clones in normal tissues
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
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Sofie
Hoogstoel
PhD Student
Eden Pappaert
PhD Student
Ellen De Clercq
Master Student
Lars Bogaert
Master Student
Alexander Truijen
Master Student
Amelia Kirkov
Master Student
Emma Degroote
Master Student
Julie Siccard
Master Student
Lize Walgraef
Master Student
Lobke Van der Schueren
Master Student
Hazel De Backer
Master Student
Anouk Tas
Master Student
Jimmy
Van den Eynden
Principal Investigator
Research output
Mar 31, 2025
CRIG Oncopoint PrIOMiC - presentation, pitch and Poster x2 Award
Sofie Hoogstoel, Eden Pappaert, Tom Luijts & Quinn Croughs
Nov 14, 2025
EMBL Cancer Genomics 2025 - Best Poster Award
Sofie Hoogstoel
Jan 5, 2024
Jan 6, 2023
Nederlandse Anatomen Vereniging conference 2023
The potential of whole-body donors for understanding early tumor evolution - Tom Luijts
Jun 20, 2022
A clinically annotated post-mortem approach to study multi-organ somatic mutational clonality in normal tissues
Tom Luijts, Kerryn Elliott, Joachim Siaw, Joris Van de Velde, Elien Beyls, Arne Claeys, Tim Lammens, Erik Larsson, Wouter Willaert, Anne Vral and Jimmy Van den Eynden
May 23, 2022
CRIG Oncopoint Symposium 2022: a festive edition
A clinically annotated post-mortem approach to study multi-organ somatic mutational clonality in histologically healthy tissues - Tom Luijts