Our lab focuses on understanding the information hidden in large-scale omics datasets. We are particularly interested in elucidating the mechanisms by which cancers develop and in leveraging this knowledge for the development of better cancer prevention strategies and the improved targeting of existing cancer treatment. Throughout the past five years, our work has predominately focused on creating the concept of mutational signatures, on demonstrating the utility of mutational signatures in understanding human cancer, and on identifying mutational signatures in a plethora of diverse cancer types. Our believe is that by developing a next-generation of machine learning approaches, we can obtain a predictive-understanding of the basic molecular processes contributing to cancer develop, which will allow us to better prevent and treat human cancer.
Research Focus Areas:
DNA Replication and Repair | Genetics and Genomics
Selected Publications:
Ma X, Liu Y, Liu Y, Alexandrov LB, Edmonson MN, Gawad C, Zhou X, Li Y, Rusch MC, Easton J, Huether R, Gonzalez-Pena V, Wilkinson MR, Hermida LC, Davis S, Sioson E, Pounds S, Cao X, Ries RE, Wang Z, Chen X, Dong L, Diskin SJ, Smith MA, Auvil JMG, Meltzer PS, Lau CC, Perlman EJ, Maris JM, Meshinchi S, Hunger SP, Gerhard DS, and Zjnag J (2018).
Pan-cancer genome and transcriptome analyses of 1,699 pediatric leukemias and solid. Nature 555 (7696), 371.
Alexandrov LB, Ju YS, Haase K, Loo PV, Martincorena I, Nik-Zainal S, Totoki Y, Fujimoto A, Nakagawa H, Shibata T, Campbell PJ, Vineis P, Phillips DH, and Stratton MR. (2016).
Mutational signatures associated with tobacco smoking in human cancer. Science 354(6312):618-622.
Alexandrov LB, Nik-Zainal S, Wedge DC, Aparicio SA, Behjati S, Biankin AV, Bignell GR, Bolli N, Borg A, Borresen-Dale AL, Boyault S, Burkhardt B, Butler AP, Caldas C, Davies HR, Desmedt C, Eils R, Eyfjord JE, Foekens JA, Greaves M, Hosoda F, Hutter B, Ilicic T, Imbeaud S, Imielinsk M, Jager N, Jones DT, Jones D, Knappskog S, Kool M, Lakhani SR, Lopez-Otin C, Martin S, Munshi NC, Nakamura H, Northcott PA, Pajic M, Papaemmanuil E, Paradiso A, Pearson JV, Puente XS, Raine K, Ramakrishna M, Richardson AL, Richter J, Rosenstiel P, Schlesner M, Schumacher TN, Span PN, Teague JW, Totoki Y, Tutt AN, Valdes-Mas R, van Buuren MM, van 't Veer L, Vincent-Salomon A, Waddell N, Yates LR, Zucman-Rossi J, Futreal PA, McDermott U, Lichter P, Meyerson M, Grimmond SM, Siebert R, Campo E, Shibata T, Pfister SM, Campbell PJ, and Stratton MR (2013)
Signatures of mutational processes in human cancer. Nature 500:415-421