Projekt

Cancer epigenomes differ on more than 150,000 positions genome-wide in their methylation pattern from normal tissues. On one side these large differences provide the basis for the identification of candidate biomarkers, on the other side it poses the question how these alterations are initiated and what consequences they have on cancer surveillance. New high throughput sequencing technologies enable genomewide views on individual cancer genomes/epigenomes to a so far unmet extend. The concept of the professorship will be to further investigate the cancer genomes with a particular focus on what causes cancer-specific epigenetic alterations. It will be investigated if and how mutated chromatin modifiers may interfere with the epigenome and what factors other than mutations in chromatin modifiers can turn an epigenome into a cancer epigenome. As susceptibility factor the aging process will be investigated. Methylation indices for centenarians, tumor patients and patients with premature aging syndromes will be developed, and the role of reactive oxygen species will be investigated. The development of epigenetic marks for the diagnosis of early prostate cancer is under progress. In Cologne, the expertise will be further applied to the identification of biomarkers for the prediction of therapy response of lung cancer patients.

• Prof. Dr. Dr. Michal-Ruth Schweiger

  Universität Köln
  Cologne Center for Genomics (CCG)
  Köln