Origins and fate of clonal expansions of cancer driver in human colon

The non-transformed colonic epithelium acquires significant mutational burden with age, including many cancer drivers. For different mutations the extent of such burden is dictated by discrete stages of de novo mutation rate, stem cell replacement processes within glands and lateral clonal expansions of individual glands. The impact of each step has only recently been benchmarked in normal colon by quantifying the size and frequency of clones containing neutral mutations that have been visualised in situ. Biases in both stem cell replacement and lateral expansions can result in significant over representation of somatic variants to an extent that has not been appreciated hitherto. The project will involve: visualising somatic variants with a particular focus on cancer driver events associated with human colorectal cancer; performing detailed quantitative and functional characterisation to rank and compare different driver events and understanding how such expansions contribute to the development of neoplastic disease.

Preferred skills/knowledge
Applicants should have, or expect to obtain, an undergraduate degree at honours level or equivalent in biomedical sciences with a strong component of molecular biology. At least six months of lab based experience is required.

Please click on ’Visit Website’ for details on how to apply. You must submit an application on-line to be considered for this studentship.