DR-052 Measuring the evolutionary dynamics of positive and negative selection in metastatic cancers

In this project we aim at combining mathematical modelling of tumor evolution with cancer genomic data to measure fundamental evolutionary characteristics of metastatic tumors. These measurements will allow better understanding of how tumors spread to distant parts of the body. Importantly, we anticipate that the patient-specific ‘evolutionary rules’ we will measure from the data may be informative in terms of stratifying patients between good versus poor prognosis. Moreover, some of these measurements may also be predictive of the effectiveness of certain treatments.

Andrea Sottoriva The Institute of Cancer Research United Kingdom