Inigo Martincorena
@imartincorena.bsky.social
1.7K followers 420 following 30 posts
Scientist. Group leader at the Sanger Institute, Cambridge UK. Somatic mutation and selection in normal tissues, cancer and ageing.
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imartincorena.bsky.social
If you read the preprint, not a lot has changed. But if you didn't, here is a link to the original thread summarising our findings. Since then, NanoSeq has become a workhorse in our lab, unveiling a fascinating landscape of somatic evolution across tissues and diseases. bsky.app/profile/imar...
imartincorena.bsky.social
Resharing here a recent X post. In this preprint, we introduce an improved version of NanoSeq, a duplex sequencing protocol with <5 errors per billion bp in single DNA molecules, and use it to study the somatic mutation landscape of oral epithelium in >1000 people. 1/ www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
Somatic mutation and selection at epidemiological scale
As we age, many tissues become colonised by microscopic clones carrying somatic driver mutations ([1][1]–[10][2]. Some of these clones represent a first step towards cancer whereas others may contribu...
www.medrxiv.org
imartincorena.bsky.social
I am speaking at #AACR25 this afternoon on our latest work on somatic mutations in normal tissues. If you are attending AACR, feel free to drop by and say hello.
brnw.ch/21wRUZZ
imartincorena.bsky.social
If you are looking for an exciting postdoc position, please see below! Adrian Baez Ortega (a former member of the group) is starting an independent group at the University of Cambridge on the evolution of transmissible cancers and is recruiting. tinyurl.com/pdra-cambridge
Reposted by Inigo Martincorena
timcoorens.bsky.social
The stomach is an organ unique in its function, environment and exposures. How does this affect the mutations that normal cells in the stomach acquire? What does this reveal about the origins of stomach cancer? These questions and more in our @nature.com paper:
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
The somatic mutation landscape of normal gastric epithelium - Nature
Whole-gene sequencing of&nbsp;microdissected&nbsp;gastric glands from individuals with and without gastric cancer reveals distinct patterns&nbsp;of somatic mutations and provides insights into influen...
www.nature.com
Reposted by Inigo Martincorena
jamie-blundell.bsky.social
Delighted to share a major update on our work investigating age-related deceleration in clonal haematopoiesis.

Takehome: Widespread and substantial deceleration in fitness with age!

Amazing effort by PhD student Hamish MacGregor 💪

www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Inigo Martincorena
Reposted by Inigo Martincorena
mikespencerchapman.bsky.social
So pleased to have the paper out, available here: www.nature.com/articles/s41586-024-08423-8
For me this was discovery science as I had always hoped it would be. A lot of fun, and some proper detective work with plenty of twists & turns on the way. Brief thread below
imartincorena.bsky.social
A nice article covering some of the surprises in the field of somatic mosaicism in the last decade. As I say there: "Judging by the discoveries that we are making at the moment, the journey has only just started. I expect many surprises in the next few years." knowablemagazine.org/content/arti...
We are all mosaics
Picture your body: It’s a collection of cells carrying thousands of genetic mistakes accrued over a lifetime — many harmless, some bad, and at least a few that may be good for you.
knowablemagazine.org
Reposted by Inigo Martincorena
landau.bsky.social
Excited to share a major breakthrough from the lab! D&D-seq is a new technology that bridges a key gap in single-cell multi-omics/genomics : the ability to map DNA:Protein interactions (e.g., TFs or chromatin remodellers). Led by Ivan Raimondi, Wei-Yu Chi and Sang-Ho Yoon
imartincorena.bsky.social
Quotient Therapeutics is looking for a new Head of Target Discovery, reporting to Peter Campbell, its new CSO. Lots of exciting somatic genomics in this role. uk.linkedin.com/jobs/view/he...
uk.linkedin.com
imartincorena.bsky.social
An early example is this beautiful study by @mattneville.bsky.social, @r-rahbari.bsky.social and cols applying exome NanoSeq to sperm and unveiling a rich landscape of selection in the male germline, which explains the high incidence of some developmental disorders. www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1...
imartincorena.bsky.social
Beyond this study, for us whole-exome NanoSeq is proving a bit like looking down a microscope for the first time. We are seeing fascinating somatic evolution in a range of tissues and diseases, which is changing our perspective on them. [END, or just the beginning...]
imartincorena.bsky.social
A huge thanks to the many friends and colleagues at Sanger and elsewhere who have made this possible. Particular thanks to the brilliant Andrew Lawson, Pan Nicola and Fede Abascal. Stef Lensing on R&D. And the TwinsUK team and donors for making this collection possible. 🙏19/n
imartincorena.bsky.social
The paper packs a few more things for those interested. Including new algorithms, detailed supplementary notes connecting these discoveries in normal tissues with classical multistage models of carcinogenesis, heritability analyses, etc. 18/n www.medrxiv.org/content/medr...
imartincorena.bsky.social
For example, we show that alcohol (a risk factor for oral cancer) is quite mutagenic, but its mutational spectrum is fortunately biased towards intronic sequences, reducing the impact on coding sequences per drink unit. We also found that smoking increases selection on certain clones. 17/n
imartincorena.bsky.social
Multivariate regression models then enable mutational epidemiology studies on how exposures and cancer risk factors, such as age, tobacco or alcohol, alter the acquisition and selection of somatic mutations. 16/n
imartincorena.bsky.social
By analysing how the frequency of driver mutations increases with age, we also gained new and unexpected insights into the mode of clonal growth in oral epithelium, which suggests that clonal expansions are highly constrained. 15/n