Peter Merseburger
Doctoral fellow - Lab of computational cancer genomics and tumor evolution (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, UGent)
Principal investigator: prof. Jimmy Van den Eynden (MD, PhD)
Research focus
I am studying drug effects on novel neuroblastoma targets to ultimately improve treatment options for high-risk neuroblastoma patients. To this end, it is crucial to understand the role of the tumor microenvironment and tumor heterogeneity in those drug responses. My focus lies on the exploration of different (combinatorial) drug regimens targeting the DNA damage response, which I study using spatial transcriptomics and other omics and bioinformatics methods. Furthermore, I investigate the role of copy number alterations in treatment responses. This work is carried out using MYCN/ALK mutant orthotopic allografts, transgenic mouse models and patient-derived xenografts.
Lastly, I leverage my experience in the development of interactive scientific apps to make my work accessible to the public and within this multidisciplinary research project.
Biography
- FWO PhD fellow fundamental research. (2024 - now)
- PhD student since 2023
- Swedish advanced research fellowship. (2022-2023)
- Master of Science in Bioinformatics, Ghent University. (2022)
- Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry/Molecular Biology, Friedrich Schiller University Jena, Germany. (2020)
- Bachelor of Science in Computer Science, Technical University of Dresden, Germany. (2018)
Key publications
- Spatial transcriptomics exploration of the primary neuroblastoma microenvironment unveils novel paracrine interactions. bioRxiv, 2024.
- Effects of hyperthermia on cisplatin tissue penetration and gene expression in peritoneal metastases: results from a randomized trial in ovarian cancer. British Journal of Surgery, 2024. (PMID: 38656960)
- Preclinical exploration of the DNA damage response pathway using the interactive neuroblastoma cell line explorer CLEAN. NAR Cancer, 2024. (PMID: 38213997)
- Benchmark of tools for in silico prediction of MHC class I and class II genotypes from NGS data. BMC Genomics, 2023. (PMID: 37161318)
- COCONUT online: collection of open natural products database. Journal of Cheminformatics, 2021. (PMID: 33423696)
Contact & links
- Lab address: Department of Human Structure and Repair, Unit of Anatomy and Embryology, Corneel Heymanslaan 10, UZP123, 9000 Ghent, Belgium
- Computational Cancer Genomics and Tumor Evolution lab
- Palmer lab
- ORCID
- Peter Merseburger is interested to receive invitations for presentations or talks