We aim to understand somatic evolution in tissues to detect cancer earlier

We are a research group in the Early Cancer Institute at the University of Cambridge. Our work aims to quantitatively understand how cancer develops over the course of our lives. We combine evolutionary principles, mathematics and state-of-the-art genomics to study the somatic evolution that occurs in healthy tissues as we age and how this evolution is altered at the earliest stages of cancer. To do this we analyse longitudinal blood samples collected over decade long timescales in large numbers of individuals who are initially disease free. By “zooming in” on the people who develop cancer, we are able to “rewind” time by performing (epi)genetic analyses on blood samples collected years before the cancer was diagnosed. Our aim is to develop personalised “forecasts” of future cancer risk and identify those most in need of intervention. We also have an active interest in adaptive immune repertoire dynamics in cancer and other diseases.

A recent video summarising some of our work can be found below. Our work is generously supported by a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship and by Cancer Research UK.