Sofie Hoogstoel
Doctoral fellow – Lab computational cancer genomics and tumor evolution (Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Ghent University)
Principal investigator: prof. Jimmy Van den Eynden (MD, PhD)
Research focus
Recent research on histologically healthy human tissues identified ubiquitous mutational clones, driven by somatic mutations known to be responsible for carcinogenesis (e.g., in TP53 or NOTCH1). These insights are fundamentally changing current tumor evolution models, with far reaching translational oncology implications. Our lab recently developed a multidisciplinary approach to study these clonal alterations in post-mortem tissues, derived from whole-body donors.
The goal of my PhD is to better understand the earliest foundation of skin and head and neck (HN) squamous cell carcinoma (SCC). I aim to characterize the somatic mutational landscape in normal aged and mutagen exposed HN tissues and then determine how putative spatial interactions between clones contribute to HN and skin SCC carcinogenesis.
Biography
- Master of Science in biomedical sciences at Ghent University (2017-2019)
- Bachelor of Science in biomedical sciences at Ghent University (2014-2017)
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
- LinkedIn