Research Focus

Using Melanoma as a disease paradigm, our research group focuses on the mechanisms by which (cancer-specific) non-mutational (i.e. epigenetic and (post-)transcriptional) events contribute to cancer evolution. We study fundamental aspects of cancer biology: from the identification of the cell(s)-of-origin, dissection of the mechanisms that contribute to tumor initiation and metastatic dissemination, as well as the emergence of therapy resistance. We aim to dissect (and target) the intrinsic and extrinsic mechanisms that confer cancer cells with specific “driver” phenotypic properties such as drug tolerance & relapse-initiating, tumor-fueling and metastasis-initiating competencies. Through our long-standing collaboration with UZLeuven clinicans (and pathologists, we embrace a bed-to-bench-and-back approach. This involves running investigator-driven clinical trials, leveraging cutting-edge technologies to profile unique (longitudinal) clinical samples, meticulously modelling disease-specific events in mice to dissect underlying mechanisms, conduct perturbation experiments and test innovative therapeutic regimens, and ultimately translating our findings back to patients for a comprehensive and iterative full research cycle.

Our work is currently centered on 3 related axes:
•    PRIMARY TUMOR BIOLOGY
•    METASTASIS
•    PLASTICITY THERAPY