My postdoctoral research aims to investigate the role of cell-cell communication within the tumour microenvironment of squamous cell carcinoma, focusing on tumour growth, epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT), metastasis, and therapy response.

During my PhD, I focused on exploring the role of tumor heterogeneity in epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and therapy resistance using single-cell (multi-)omic techniques. I helped develop a novel single-cell genome-and-transcriptome sequencing method (Gtag&T) that doesn’t require whole-genome amplification, making it more efficient and cost-effective than traditional methods. We applied this method to melanoma patient-derived xenograft (PDX) models, uncovering the influence of subclonal copy-number aberrations (CNAs) on cell state plasticity during treatment. This work also led to the first phylogenetic reconstruction of a primary tumor annotated with transcriptomic cell states, revealing new insights into gene dosage effects and drug resistance. Additionally, I contributed to benchmarking CNA inference methodologies from scRNA-seq data, finding that current approaches lack accuracy, underscoring the need for multi-omic strategies. I also investigated NP137, a new anti-cancer treatment, demonstrating its potential to reduce lung metastasis and enhance chemotherapy response in skin squamous cell carcinoma models. Beyond my main research projects, I participated in single-cell and spatial (multi-)omics projects addressing prostate heterogeneity, muscular dystrophy, bone biology, embryology, and Alzheimer’s disease.

Using single-cell multi-omics to study cellular heterogeneity in breast cancer.

Development of safer MLV-based gene therapy vectors: studying BET protein-chromatin occupation and generation of p12-fusions