What does it take to outsmart cancer?

The Research Mission of the Department of Translational Genomics is to understand the impact of somatic genetic alterations in cancer cells on the highly complex regulatory network of signaling pathways.

Our Mission

What is your profession?

The Research Mission of the Department of Translational Genomics is to understand the impact of somatic genetic alterations in cancer cells on the highly complex regulatory network of signaling pathways.

Vacancy

News from our Labs

PhD Career Perspective Event

12/05/2024 | "Imaging Specialists in Academic Research & Industry"

New Cologne-Seoul International Research Training Group on Lung Cancer

12/03/2024 | The CS-IRTG is jointly supported by the University of Cologne and the Sungkyunkwan University in Seoul.

Floor Meeting: Guest Scientist

11/20/2024 | Dr. Andrea Morandi

Floor Meeting: Guest Scientist

10/09/2024 | Dr. Kjong-Van Lehmann

New collaborative publication in JCO

10/02/2024 | Key factor determining aggressive variant of pulmonary carcinoids discovered

Cologne Conference on Lung Cancer 2025

09/20/2024 | Cologne Conference on Lung Cancer in Cologne, Germany June 26-27, 2025, www.cologne-clc.com

Latest Publications

2022

Valencia K, Echepare M, Teijeira Á, Pasquier A, Bértolo C, Sainz C, Tamayo I, Picabea B, Bosco G, Thomas R, Agorreta J, López-Picazo JM, Frigola J, Amat R, Calvo A, Felip E, Melero I, Montuenga LM. DSTYK inhibition increases the sensitivity of lung cancer cells to T cell-mediated cytotoxicity. J Exp Med. 2022 Dec 5;219(12):e20220726. doi: 10.1084/jem.20220726. Epub 2022 Sep 28. PMID: 36169652

Yamada Y, Belharazem-Vitacolonnna D, Bohnenberger H, Weiß C, Matsui N, Kriegsmann M, Kriegsmann K, Sinn P, Simon-Keller K, Hamilton G, Graeter T, Preissler G, Ott G, Schölch S, Nakajima N, Yoshizawa A, Haga H, Date H, Thomas RK, Petrini I, Giaccone G, Ströbel P, Marx A. Pulmonary cancers across different histotypes share hybrid tuft cell/ionocyte-like molecular features and potentially druggable vulnerabilities. Cell Death Dis. 2022 Nov 19;13(11):979.doi: 10.1038/s41419-022-05428-x. PMID: 36402755

Lategahn J, Tumbrink HL, Schultz-Fademrecht C, Heimsoeth A, Werr L, Niggenaber J, Keul M, Parmaksiz F, Baumann M, Menninger S, Zent E, Landel I, Weisner J, Jeyakumar K, Heyden L, Russ N, Müller F, Lorenz C, Brägelmann J, Spille I, Grabe T, Müller MP, Heuckmann JM, Klebl BM, Nussbaumer P, Sos ML, Rauh D. Insight into Targeting Exon20 Insertion Mutations of the Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor with Wild Type-Sparing Inhibitors. J Med Chem. 2022 Apr 29. doi: 10.1021/acs.jmedchem.1c02080. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35486541

Lisa Werr, Dennis Plenker, Marcel A. Dammert, Carina Lorenz, Johannes Brägelmann, Hannah L. Tumbrink, Sebastian Klein, Anna Schmitt, Reinhard Büttner, Thorsten Persigehl, Kevan M. Shokat, F. Thomas Wunderlich, Alison M. Schram, Martin Peifer, Martin L. Sos, H. Christian Reinhardt, Roman K. Thomas: CD74-NRG1 fusions are oncogenic in vivo and induce therapeutically tractable ERBB2:ERBB3 heterodimerization. Mol Cancer Ther. 2022 Feb. https://doi.org/10.1158/1535-7163.MCT-21-0820

Yuan XG, Zhao Y, Guo Y, Ge LM, Liu W, Wen SY, Li Q, Wan ZB, Zheng PN, Guo T, Li ZD, Peifer M, Cun YP. COSINE: A web server for clonal and subclonal structure inference and evolution in cancer genomics. Zool Res. 2022 Jan 18;43(1):75-77. doi: 10.24272/j.issn.2095-8137.2021.250. PMID: 34845880

Valencia K, Sainz C, Bértolo C, de Biurrun G, Agorreta J, Azpilikueta A, Larrayoz M, Bosco G, Zandueta C, Redrado M, Redín E, Exposito F, Serrano D, Echepare M, Ajona D, Melero I, Pio R, Thomas R, Calvo A, Montuenga LM. Two cell line models to study multiorganic metastasis and immunotherapy in lung squamous cell carcinoma. Dis Model Mech. 2022 Jan 1;15(1):dmm049137.doi: 10.1242/dmm.049137. Epub 2022 Jan 31. PMID: 34870316

Jin Y, Zhao Q, Zhu W, Feng Y, Xiao T, Zhang P, Jiang L, Hou Y, Guo C, Huang H, Chen Y, Tong X, Cao J, Li F, Zhu X, Qin J, Gao D, Liu XY, Zhang H, Chen L, Thomas RK, Wong KK, Zhang L, Wang Y, Hu L, Ji H. Identification of TAZ as the essential molecular switch in orchestrating SCLC phenotypic transition and metastasis. Natl Sci Rev. 2022 Jan 4;9(7):nwab232.doi: 10.1093/nsr/nwab232. eCollection 2022 Jul. PMID: 35967587

2021

Rosswog C, Bartenhagen C, Welte A, Kahlert Y, Hemstedt N, Lorenz W, Cartolano M, Ackermann S, Perner S, Vogel W, Altmüller J, Nürnberg P, Hertwig F, Göhring G, Lilienweiss E, Stütz AM, Korbel JO, Thomas RK, Peifer M, Fischer M. Chromothripsis followed by circular recombination drives oncogene amplification in human cancer. Nat Genet. 2021 Dec;53(12):1673-1685. doi: 10.1038/s41588-021-00951-7. Epub 2021 Nov 15. PMID: 34782764

Chen M, Chen R, Jin Y, Li J, Hu X, Zhang J, Fujimoto J, Hubert SM, Gay CM, Zhu B, Tian Y, McGranahan N, Lee WC, George J, Hu X, Chen Y, Wu M, Behrens C, Chow CW, Pham HHN, Fukuoka J, Wu J, Parra ER, Little LD, Gumbs C, Song X, Wu CJ, Diao L, Wang Q, Cardnell R, Zhang J, Wang J, Le X, Gibbons DL, Heymach JV, Jack Lee J, William WN Jr, Cheng C, Glisson B, Wistuba I, Andrew Futreal P, Thomas RK, Reuben A, Byers LA, Zhang J. Cold and heterogeneous T cell repertoire is associated with copy number aberrations and loss of immune genes in small-cell lung cancer. Nat Commun. 2021 Nov 17;12(1):6655. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-26821-8. PMID: 34789716; PMCID: PMC8599854

Bebber CM, von Karstedt S. Non-neuroendocrine differentiation generates a ferroptosis-prone lipidome in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Mol Cell Oncol. 2021 Jul 5;8(4):1933871. doi: 10.1080/23723556.2021.1933871. PMID: 34616869

Offermann A, Joerg V, Hupe MC, Becker F, Müller M, Brägelmann J, Kirfel J, Merseburger AS, Sailer V, Tharun L, Perner S. CDK19 as a diagnostic marker for high-grade prostatic intraepithelial neoplasia. Hum Pathol. 2021 Nov;117:60-67. doi: 10.1016/j.humpath.2021.07.006. Epub 2021 Jul 24. PMID: 34314763

Perne C, Peters S, Cartolano M, Horpaopan S, Grimm C, Altmüller J, Sommer AK, Hillmer AM, Thiele H, Odenthal M, Möslein G, Adam R, Sivalingam S, Kirfel J, Schweiger MR, Peifer M, Spier I, Aretz S. Variant profiling of colorectal adenomas from three patients of two families with MSH3-related adenomatous polyposis. PLoS One. 2021 Nov 29;16(11):e0259185. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259185. PMID: 34843512; PMCID: PMC8629245.

Montinaro A, Areso Zubiaur I, Saggau J, Kretz AL, Ferreira RMM, Hassan O, Kitzig E, Müller I, El-Bahrawy MA, von Karstedt S, Kulms D, Liccardi G, Lemke J, Walczak H. Potent pro-apoptotic combination therapy is highly effective in a broad range of cancers. Cell Death Differ. 2021 Sep 17. doi: 10.1038/s41418-021-00869-x. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 34535764

Brägelmann J, Lorenz C, Borchmann S, Nishii K, Wegner J, Meder L, Ostendorp J, Ast DF, Heimsoeth A, Nakasuka T, Hirabae A, Okawa S, Dammert MA, Plenker D, Klein S, Lohneis P, Gu J, Godfrey LK, Forster J, Trajkovic-Arsic M, Zillinger T, Haarmann M, Quaas A, Lennartz S, Schmiel M, D'Rozario J, Thomas ES, Li H, Schmitt CA, George J, Thomas RK, von Karstedt S, Hartmann G, Büttner R, Ullrich RT, Siveke JT, Ohashi K, Schlee M, Sos ML. MAPK-pathway inhibition mediates inflammatory reprogramming and sensitizes tumors to targeted activation of innate immunity sensor RIG-I. Nat Commun. 2021 Sep 17;12(1):5505. PMID: 34535668

Willms A, Schupp H, Poelker M, Adawy A, Debus JF, Hartwig T, Krichel T, Fritsch J, Singh S, Walczak H, von Karstedt S, Schäfer H, Trauzold A. TRAIL- receptor 2-a novel negative regulator of p53. Cell Death Dis. 2021 Jul 31;12(8):757. doi: 10.1038/s41419-021-04048-1. PMID: 34333527; PMCID: PMC8325694

Bebber CM, von Karstedt S. Non-neuroendocrine differentiation generates a ferroptosis-prone lipidome in small cell lung cancer (SCLC). Mol Cell Oncol. 2021 Jul 5;8(4):1933871. doi: 10.1080/23723556.2021.1933871. PMID: 34616869; PMCID: PMC8489942

Brägelmann J, Barahona Ponce C, Marcelain K, Roessler S, Goeppert B, Gallegos I, Colombo A, Sanhueza V, Morales E, Rivera MT, de Toro G, Ortega A, Müller B, Gabler F, Scherer D, Waldenberger M, Reischl E, Boekstegers F, Garate-Calderon V, Umu SU, Rounge TB, Popanda O, Lorenzo Bermejo J. Epigenome-Wide Analysis of Methylation Changes in the Sequence of Gallstone Disease, Dysplasia, and Gallbladder Cancer. Hepatology. 2021 Jun;73(6):2293-2310. doi: 10.1002/hep.31585. Epub 2021 Jun 15. PMID: 33020926

Dentro SC, Leshchiner I, Haase K, Tarabichi M, Wintersinger J, Deshwar AG, Yu K, Rubanova Y, Macintyre G, Demeulemeester J, Vázquez-García I, Kleinheinz K, Livitz DG, Malikic S, Donmez N, Sengupta S, Anur P, Jolly C, Cmero M, Rosebrock D, Schumacher SE, Fan Y, Fittall M, Drews RM, Yao X, Watkins TBK, Lee J, Schlesner M, Zhu H, Adams DJ, McGranahan N, Swanton C, Getz G, Boutros PC, Imielinski M, Beroukhim R, Sahinalp SC, Ji Y, Peifer M, Martincorena I, Markowetz F, Mustonen V, Yuan K, Gerstung M, Spellman PT, Wang W, Morris QD, Wedge DC, Van Loo P; PCAWG Evolution and Heterogeneity Working Group and the PCAWG Consortium. Characterizing genetic intra-tumor heterogeneity across 2,658 human cancer genomes. Cell. 2021 Apr 15;184(8):2239-2254.e39. PMID: 33831375

Bebber CM, Thomas ES, Stroh J, Chen Z, Androulidaki A, Schmitt A, Höhne MN, Stüker L, de Pádua Alves C, Khonsari A, Dammert MA, Parmaksiz F, Tumbrink HL, Beleggia F, Sos ML, Riemer J, George J, Brodesser S, Thomas RK, Reinhardt HC, von Karstedt S. Ferroptosis response segregates small cell lung cancer (SCLC) neuroendocrine subtypes. Nat Commun. 2021 Apr 6;12(1):2048. doi: 10.1038/s41467-021-22336-4. PMID: 33824345; PMCID: PMC8024350.

Yamada Y, Simon-Keller K, Belharazem-Vitacolonnna D, Bohnenberger H, Kriegsmann M, Kriegsmann K, Hamilton G, Graeter T, Preissler G, Ott G, Roessner ED, Dahmen I, Thomas RK, Ströbel P, Marx A. A Tuft Cell-Like Signature Is Highly Prevalent in Thymic Squamous Cell Carcinoma and Delineates New Molecular Subsets Among the Major Lung Cancer Histotypes. J Thorac Oncol. 2021 Jun;16(6):1003-1016. doi: 10.1016/j.jtho.2021.02.008. Epub 2021 Feb 17. PMID: 33609752.

Klein S, Quaas A, Quantius J, Löser H, Meinel J, Peifer M, Wagner S, Gattenlöhner S, Wittekindt C, von Knebel Doeberitz M, Prigge ES, Langer C, Noh KW, Maltseva M, Reinhardt HC, Büttner R, Klussmann JP, Wuerdemann N. Deep Learning Predicts HPV Association in Oropharyngeal Squamous Cell Carcinomas and Identifies Patients with a Favorable Prognosis Using Regular H&E Stains. Clin Cancer Res. 2021 Feb 15;27(4):1131-1138. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-20-3596. Epub 2020 Dec 1. PMID: 33262137

Lennartz S, Mager A, Große Hokamp N, Schäfer S, Zopfs D, Maintz D, Reinhardt HC, Thomas RK, Caldeira L, Persigehl T. Texture analysis of iodine maps and conventional images for k-nearest neighbor classification of benign and metastatic lung nodules. Cancer Imaging. 2021 Jan 26;21(1):17. doi: 10.1186/s40644-020-00374-3. PMID: 33499939; PMCID: PMC7836145.

Tumbrink HL, Heimsoeth A, Sos ML. The next tier of EGFR resistance mutations in lung cancer. Oncogene. 2021 Jan;40(1):1-11. PMID: 33060857

Watermann C, Pasternack H, Idel C, Ribbat-Idel J, Brägelmann J, Kuppler P, Offermann A, Jonigk D, Kühnel MP, Schröck A, Dreyer E, Rosero C, Nathansen J, Dubrovska A, Tharun L, Kirfel J, Wollenberg B, Perner S, Krupar R. Recurrent HNSCC Harbor an Immunosuppressive Tumor Immune Microenvironment Suggesting Successful Tumor Immune Evasion. Clin Cancer Res. 2021 Jan 15;27(2):632-644. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-20-0197. Epub 2020 Oct 27. PMID: 33109740

Flümann R, Rehkämper T, Nieper P, Pfeiffer P, Holzem A, Klein S, Bhatia S, Kochanek M, Kisis I, Pelzer BW, Ahlert H, Hauer J, da Palma Guerreiro A, Ryan JA, Reimann M, Riabinska A, Wiederstein J, Krüger M, Deckert M, Altmüller J, Klatt AR, Frenzel LP, Pasqualucci L, Béguelin W, Melnick AM, Sander S, Montesinos-Rongen M, Brunn A, Lohneis P, Büttner R, Kashkar H, Borkhardt A, Letai A, Persigehl T, Peifer M, Schmitt CA, Reinhardt HC, Knittel G. An Autochthonous Mouse Model of Myd88- and BCL2-Driven Diffuse Large B-cell Lymphoma Reveals Actionable Molecular Vulnerabilities. Blood Cancer Discov. 2021 Jan;2(1):70-91. doi: 10.1158/2643-3230.BCD-19-0059. PMID: 33447829; PMCID: PMC7806186

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