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Organisation

Laboratory of Reproductive Genomics

Division

Lifecycle:1 Nov 2009 →  Today
Organisation profile:

Our group focuses on:

(1) The development of wet-lab and computational methods for single-cell multi-omics analyses –including genome, epigenome and transcriptome analyses of single cells– using microarray and next-generation sequencing technologies. We furthermore automate these methods using customised liquid handling robotics and microfluidics.

(2) The application of these methods to study the nature, rate and mechanisms of DNA-mutation in primary tissues and the relation of somatic mutation to phenotype/disease development. We apply these methods to cells arising from the first cell divisions of life, to understand genomic instability in embryogenesis, up to postmitotic cells as neurons.

(3) The application of these methods –which enable exposing the extent, nature and biology of cellular heterogeneity– to understand normal developmental processes, ageing processes and disease processes.

(4) The translation of single-cell omics methodologies to the clinic. For instance, our group is expert in genome-wide haplotype reconstruction of single cells, which is now a generic method for embryo preimplantation genetic diagnosis in the clinic.

Keywords:embryogenesis, development, ageing, cancer, single-cell multi-omics, single-cell sequencing, genetic heterogeneity, cellular heterogeneity
Disciplines:Scientific computing, Bioinformatics and computational biology, Morphological sciences, Oncology, Genetics, Systems biology, Molecular and cell biology, Animal biology, Gynaecology and obstetrics, Medical biotechnology, Neurosciences, Medical systems biology, Gerontology and geriatrics