On Wednesday 28 May at 13:00, Gustav Alexander Poulsgaard defends his PhD dissertation entitled "CHARACTERIZATION OF SOMATIC MUTATIONAL PROCESSES: INSIGHTS FROM WHOLE-GENOME ANALYSIS OF CANCER PATIENTS"

Our genome is continually damaged by normal cell processes and environmental agents.  Although most DNA damages are repaired by specialized DNA repair machineries, some evade repair and persist throughout life. While most damages are harmless, just a handful can kick-start cancer. A new dissertation deciphers the fingerprints of DNA damage in both tumours and healthy cells, improving our understanding of how cancer evolves and how chemotherapy can shape our DNA.

Every one of our cells carries the full set of instructions—our DNA—but these instructions can be marked by damage that sometimes slips through repair. In the first part of this work, the genomes of thousands of tumours were scanned for mutational signatures—patterns of DNA damage—that pinpoint why certain sites are especially prone to change, revealing where natural processes or environmental exposures leave their mark.

The second part tracked cell free DNA in the blood of colorectal cancer patients before and after chemotherapy. By detecting single cell damage events, the study showed how treatment produces its own mutational signature and found evidence that chemotherapy may activate APOBEC enzymes, creating lasting changes in healthy stem cells.

Together, these findings offer a clearer picture of the forces shaping cancer genomes and lay the groundwork for future blood based markers to help interpret mutation data and monitor long term treatment effects.

The summary is written by the PhD student.

The defence is public and takes place in the auditorium, ground floor, building D/E, Department of Molecular Medicine Please see the press release for more information. 

Contact

PhD student Gustav Alexander Poulsgaard
Mail: gap@clin.au.dk 
Phone: (+45) 42430427

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