Zachary Compton
@zacharytcompton.bsky.social
at the intersection of evolutionary theory and cancer biology
Reposted by Zachary Compton
*NEW PAPER*
The comparative method is one of the most powerful tools we have.
Here, we use comparative oncology to show how it can be applied to evolutionary medicine.
Now out in Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.
academic.oup.com/emph/arti
The comparative method is one of the most powerful tools we have.
Here, we use comparative oncology to show how it can be applied to evolutionary medicine.
Now out in Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.
academic.oup.com/emph/arti
January 27, 2026 at 4:13 PM
*NEW PAPER*
The comparative method is one of the most powerful tools we have.
Here, we use comparative oncology to show how it can be applied to evolutionary medicine.
Now out in Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.
academic.oup.com/emph/arti
The comparative method is one of the most powerful tools we have.
Here, we use comparative oncology to show how it can be applied to evolutionary medicine.
Now out in Evolution, Medicine, and Public Health.
academic.oup.com/emph/arti
Reposted by Zachary Compton
Fun episode BBC In Our Time episode from 1999 with John Maynard Smith.
Talks about the major transitions, the gene's-eye view, and why he's bored with human genome project.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
Talks about the major transitions, the gene's-eye view, and why he's bored with human genome project.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
BBC Radio 4 - In Our Time, Evolution
Melvyn Bragg examines the future of gene therapy and advances in evolutionary biology.
www.bbc.co.uk
November 24, 2025 at 5:15 PM
Fun episode BBC In Our Time episode from 1999 with John Maynard Smith.
Talks about the major transitions, the gene's-eye view, and why he's bored with human genome project.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
Talks about the major transitions, the gene's-eye view, and why he's bored with human genome project.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
Reposted by Zachary Compton
Ernst Mayr and David Lack in Oxford 1966.
September 30, 2025 at 1:33 PM
Ernst Mayr and David Lack in Oxford 1966.
Reposted by Zachary Compton
At #ESEB2025 Lisa Abbeglin presents data from the recent Cancer Prevalence across Vertebrates paper led by @zacharytcompton.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1158/2159...
doi.org/10.1158/2159...
August 22, 2025 at 8:43 AM
At #ESEB2025 Lisa Abbeglin presents data from the recent Cancer Prevalence across Vertebrates paper led by @zacharytcompton.bsky.social
doi.org/10.1158/2159...
doi.org/10.1158/2159...
Reposted by Zachary Compton
Enjoyed this @natrevcancer.nature.com article on comparative oncology - how we can learn from other species 🐘🐋🦜🐍 about ways to prevent (& possibly treat) cancer. Both a review and a call to action for the research community. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @atjcagan.bsky.social @cmaley.bsky.social
Advancing cancer research via comparative oncology - Nature Reviews Cancer
Comparative oncology combines evolutionary biology, ecology, veterinary medicine and clinical oncology to better understand cancer, for example, by identifying the molecular and cellular mechanisms un...
www.nature.com
July 8, 2025 at 2:04 PM
Enjoyed this @natrevcancer.nature.com article on comparative oncology - how we can learn from other species 🐘🐋🦜🐍 about ways to prevent (& possibly treat) cancer. Both a review and a call to action for the research community. www.nature.com/articles/s41... @atjcagan.bsky.social @cmaley.bsky.social
Just a few days left to apply for the Fall 2025 cohort of the
Arizona Cancer Evolution Center Scholars program. Great training in comparative oncology, cancer evolution, and science communication! Open to all, not just Arizona State students.
Arizona Cancer Evolution Center Scholars program. Great training in comparative oncology, cancer evolution, and science communication! Open to all, not just Arizona State students.
May 28, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Just a few days left to apply for the Fall 2025 cohort of the
Arizona Cancer Evolution Center Scholars program. Great training in comparative oncology, cancer evolution, and science communication! Open to all, not just Arizona State students.
Arizona Cancer Evolution Center Scholars program. Great training in comparative oncology, cancer evolution, and science communication! Open to all, not just Arizona State students.
Our reply to Butler et al's recent @pnas.org paper on Peto's Paradox. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Paradoxical indeed | PNAS
Paradoxical indeed
www.pnas.org
May 6, 2025 at 3:30 PM
Our reply to Butler et al's recent @pnas.org paper on Peto's Paradox. www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/...
Reposted by Zachary Compton
Jeffrey Townsend (that's me!) presents on dismantling the coarse approximation of drivers and passengers in cancer at #AACR25.
Thank you @nlbigas.bsky.social for the photo!
Thank you @nlbigas.bsky.social for the photo!
April 25, 2025 at 11:06 PM
Jeffrey Townsend (that's me!) presents on dismantling the coarse approximation of drivers and passengers in cancer at #AACR25.
Thank you @nlbigas.bsky.social for the photo!
Thank you @nlbigas.bsky.social for the photo!
Reposted by Zachary Compton
"we demonstrate that a dog transmissible cancer has taken up and incorporated a large piece of DNA by horizontal transfer. This may have occurred through engulfment of fragments of a dying cell. Cancer is therefore not always entirely clonal"
April 25, 2025 at 9:27 AM
"we demonstrate that a dog transmissible cancer has taken up and incorporated a large piece of DNA by horizontal transfer. This may have occurred through engulfment of fragments of a dying cell. Cancer is therefore not always entirely clonal"
Reposted by Zachary Compton
What kind of conclusions can we draw from comparative oncology?
Zach has thought more about that issue than most and this was a really fun paper to work on together.
Zach has thought more about that issue than most and this was a really fun paper to work on together.
Is cancer suppression in and of itself an adaptation? The full version of our The Elephant & the Spandrel is now online. academic.oup.com/emph/article...
The Elephant and the Spandrel
Abstract. Comparative oncology has made great strides in identifying patterns of cancer prevalence and risk across the tree of life. Such studies have ofte
academic.oup.com
April 24, 2025 at 6:04 PM
What kind of conclusions can we draw from comparative oncology?
Zach has thought more about that issue than most and this was a really fun paper to work on together.
Zach has thought more about that issue than most and this was a really fun paper to work on together.
Is cancer suppression in and of itself an adaptation? The full version of our The Elephant & the Spandrel is now online. academic.oup.com/emph/article...
The Elephant and the Spandrel
Abstract. Comparative oncology has made great strides in identifying patterns of cancer prevalence and risk across the tree of life. Such studies have ofte
academic.oup.com
April 24, 2025 at 5:16 PM
Is cancer suppression in and of itself an adaptation? The full version of our The Elephant & the Spandrel is now online. academic.oup.com/emph/article...
Reposted by Zachary Compton
Beata Ujvari, Andriy Marusyk and Aurora Nedelcu are organising a symposium on “Cancer in an evolutionary framework: across species and within individuals” at the @eseb2025.bsky.social conference in Barcelona this August. Abstact submission closes on Friday: eseb2025.com/call-for-abs...
April 22, 2025 at 9:00 AM
Beata Ujvari, Andriy Marusyk and Aurora Nedelcu are organising a symposium on “Cancer in an evolutionary framework: across species and within individuals” at the @eseb2025.bsky.social conference in Barcelona this August. Abstact submission closes on Friday: eseb2025.com/call-for-abs...
Reposted by Zachary Compton
Chasing Perfection - previous work to optimize adaptive therapy schedules for cancer rely on monitoring the patient continuously. We find that accounting for discrete clinical appointments across multiple tumor models motivates patient-specific personalization in optimal tx!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Deriving Optimal Treatment Timing for Adaptive Therapy: Matching the Model to the Tumor Dynamics
Adaptive therapy (AT) protocols have been introduced to combat drug-resistance in cancer, and are characterized by breaks in maximum tolerated dose treatment (the current standard of care in most clin...
doi.org
April 9, 2025 at 6:16 PM
Chasing Perfection - previous work to optimize adaptive therapy schedules for cancer rely on monitoring the patient continuously. We find that accounting for discrete clinical appointments across multiple tumor models motivates patient-specific personalization in optimal tx!
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
doi.org/10.1101/2025...
Great interviews with so many awesome collaborators. One takeaway that is relevant given recent studies: Even if larger animals do in fact get more cancer, it does not falsify Peto’s Paradox. Large animals do not get orders of magnitude more cancer. www.the-scientist.com/peto-s-parad...
Peto’s Paradox: How Gigantic Species Evolved to Beat Cancer
Scientists dive into the genomes of whales, elephants, and other animal giants looking for new weapons in the fight against cancer.
www.the-scientist.com
March 13, 2025 at 3:51 PM
Great interviews with so many awesome collaborators. One takeaway that is relevant given recent studies: Even if larger animals do in fact get more cancer, it does not falsify Peto’s Paradox. Large animals do not get orders of magnitude more cancer. www.the-scientist.com/peto-s-parad...
Reposted by Zachary Compton
New study on diet, plasma glucose, and cancer prevalence across vertebrates published in Nature communications (@naturecomms.bsky.social) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
www.nature.com
March 12, 2025 at 2:50 PM
New study on diet, plasma glucose, and cancer prevalence across vertebrates published in Nature communications (@naturecomms.bsky.social) www.nature.com/articles/s41...
One more day to submit abstracts for ISEMPH talks! I am looking forward to hosting a symposium "The Future of Comparative Oncology" that will be paired with @evo-eco-onco.bsky.social's cancer evolution session.
February 27, 2025 at 3:54 PM
One more day to submit abstracts for ISEMPH talks! I am looking forward to hosting a symposium "The Future of Comparative Oncology" that will be paired with @evo-eco-onco.bsky.social's cancer evolution session.
Reading Liam Revell & Luke Harmon's books on comparative phylogenetics, our team knew there would be important applications to comparative oncology --and the broader evolutionary medicine field. We explore these applications in our new preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Leveraging Comparative Phylogenetics for Evolutionary Medicine: Applications to Comparative Oncology
Comparative phylogenetics provides a wealth of computational tools to understand evolutionary processes and their outcomes. Advances in these methodologies have occurred in parallel with a surge in cr...
www.biorxiv.org
February 15, 2025 at 7:47 PM
Reading Liam Revell & Luke Harmon's books on comparative phylogenetics, our team knew there would be important applications to comparative oncology --and the broader evolutionary medicine field. We explore these applications in our new preprint: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Zachary Compton
Leveraging Comparative Phylogenetics for Evolutionary Medicine: Applications to Comparative Oncology https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.11.637459v1
February 15, 2025 at 3:34 AM
Leveraging Comparative Phylogenetics for Evolutionary Medicine: Applications to Comparative Oncology https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2025.02.11.637459v1
Reposted by Zachary Compton
Thank you all for the suggestions, I compiled them all here for the time being (might try to make something more stable than a google doc later), in case it is useful for anyone else: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
In the meantime, I will keep editing with new resources and recommendations!
In the meantime, I will keep editing with new resources and recommendations!
January 21, 2025 at 1:30 PM
Thank you all for the suggestions, I compiled them all here for the time being (might try to make something more stable than a google doc later), in case it is useful for anyone else: docs.google.com/document/d/1...
In the meantime, I will keep editing with new resources and recommendations!
In the meantime, I will keep editing with new resources and recommendations!
Reposted by Zachary Compton
The January issue of Cancer Discovery is now online! The cover features "Cancer Prevalance across Vertebrates" by @zacharytcompton.bsky.social and colleagues - read that and much more: aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...
January 14, 2025 at 6:44 PM
The January issue of Cancer Discovery is now online! The cover features "Cancer Prevalance across Vertebrates" by @zacharytcompton.bsky.social and colleagues - read that and much more: aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...
Reposted by Zachary Compton
Thanks, @zacharytcompton.bsky.social! It was fun to write—and glad to see your paper officially out, and with the cool cover!
@metzgerm.bsky.social wrote a wonderful Spotlight piece that accompanies the publication of our Cancer Discovery cover this morning. He highlights that our work opens as many exciting questions as it attempts to answer. aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...
Peto’s Paradox Is Dead. Long Live Peto’s Paradox
Summary:. In this issue, Compton and colleagues report the prevalence of neoplasia and malignant cancer in 292 species, based on 16,049 necropsy records, shedding light on susceptibility to cancer and...
aacrjournals.org
January 13, 2025 at 7:54 PM
Thanks, @zacharytcompton.bsky.social! It was fun to write—and glad to see your paper officially out, and with the cool cover!
@metzgerm.bsky.social wrote a wonderful Spotlight piece that accompanies the publication of our Cancer Discovery cover this morning. He highlights that our work opens as many exciting questions as it attempts to answer. aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...
Peto’s Paradox Is Dead. Long Live Peto’s Paradox
Summary:. In this issue, Compton and colleagues report the prevalence of neoplasia and malignant cancer in 292 species, based on 16,049 necropsy records, shedding light on susceptibility to cancer and...
aacrjournals.org
January 13, 2025 at 5:21 PM
@metzgerm.bsky.social wrote a wonderful Spotlight piece that accompanies the publication of our Cancer Discovery cover this morning. He highlights that our work opens as many exciting questions as it attempts to answer. aacrjournals.org/cancerdiscov...
Next week I kick off the semester of Cancer Prevention & Control seminars! I will recap findings from our recent Cancer Discovery publication and focus on the exciting future research that needs to be done in comparative oncology
January 10, 2025 at 4:14 PM
Next week I kick off the semester of Cancer Prevention & Control seminars! I will recap findings from our recent Cancer Discovery publication and focus on the exciting future research that needs to be done in comparative oncology