Craig Anderson

How long after a mutation does it take for a cell to progress to cancer? In Barrett’s oesophagus, we found that CNAs occurred decades prior to cancer diagnosis, and that their rate is more prognostic than CNA burden alone doi.org/10.64898/202... (1/6)

New paper: doi.org/10.1371/jour... Why do hypermutant cancers have atypical 'weaker' driver mutations? Modelling clonal dynamics, shows that accelerated mutation rates and biases explain this enrichment in MMRd/POLEd colorectal cancers, shifting expected genotypes.

Last week to apply for this. If you are interested in working on cool project to understand the role of DNA methylation in regulating transcription please apply!

You can now register for Mutations in time and space 2027 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 www.embl.org/about/info/c... 🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉🎉 This time we're in beautiful Heidelberg over 15 - 18 June. Along with a stellar cast of invited speakers, there are a ton of slots for submitted abstracts. Please do come along and take part :-)

Check out our latest, just out in @MolecularCell! We reveal how common, typically harmless forms of DNA damage synergise with DNA replication defects in ATM-deficient cells to drive tumour-specific responses to PARP inhibitors - We propose that a similar synergy may contribute to A-T pathogenesis.

for this: What determines the risk of passing a new disease-causing mutation to a child? 🤔

Deadline fast approaching for the Transcription and Chromatin UK meeting - 18-20 November 2026. Submit your abstract for this exciting meeting by tomorrow for a chance to present. Hope to see you in York! 🧬

1/ NEW PAPER 🎉 🧵 We mapped the mutational processes shaping 959 prostate cancer genomes from the Pan Prostate Cancer Group (PPCG), integrating SBS, ID, CX and complex SV signatures. Eight footprints account for the processes in 85% of cases www.nature.com/articles/s41... @nature.com

Read ‘Cancer treatment alters mutant selection in normal esophagus’ from @sangerinstitute.bsky.social, @cam.ac.uk, @ucl.ac.uk in @natgenet.nature.com here ⤵️ www.nature.com/articles/s41...

Read ‘Extensive and differential platinum chemotherapy mutagenesis in livers of children’ from @sangerinstitute.bsky.social, @crick.ac.uk, @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social, and others in @science.org, here ⤵️ www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

@erc.europa.eu I'm stoked for this year's SG awardees! But ERC, do me a favour and please be more flexible with you eligibility criteria. 🙏🙏🙏 I'm a year into my Junior position and can only apply for a consolidator grant- there's not much to consolidate! @crukpolicy.bsky.social set a fab example.

How long does DNA damage last? @aaronquinlan.bsky.social and I found evidence that lesions are transmitted from parent (P0) to offspring (F1) in C. elegans. If they segregate unrepaired for multiple cell divisions, lesions generate multi-allelism in the F1 germline. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Big paper alert! This project has been years in the making. A comprehensive description of somatic mutation rates and signatures across 53 tissues or cell types using NanoSeq. A large collective effort led by Mimy Pham, Mike Stratton and @r-rahbari.bsky.social. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Inherited DNA damage generates multi-allelic mutations in C. elegans https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.08.26.747097v1

An exciting scientific collaboration 🧪 uncovered a gene–environment "collaboration" in colorectal cancer: an inherited MGMT variant predisposes tumors to alkylating DNA damage, red-meat intake amplifies it—and the damage it causes drives oncogenic KRAS mutations. #EvoDevo doi.org/10.1158/1055...

Finishing your PhD or looking for a post-bac research position? We’re recruiting postdocs and research technicians to study somatic evolution! Come do interdisciplinary science in a friendly, collaborative environment at @harvardmed.bsky.social Genetics www.naxerova.hms.harvard.edu/contact

🔬NEW PREPRINT🔬 Explainable machine learning relates histological to genomic pathology www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... From John Connelly and Barbara Hernando @bhernando.bsky.social, co-led with Martin Taylor @mstaylor.bsky.social - along with others from #LCEConsortium #genomicPathology #ml #ai

Check it now! 💫 Exited to share this preprint, the result of a fantastic collaboration between Sarah Aitken’s and Martin Taylor’s labs. During my secondment at @yalecancer.bsky.social @yalepathology.bsky.social, I contributed to explore how H&E images can be used to predict tumour genomics

Finally understand what COMPASS means! www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

Accurate detection of somatic mutations is essential for studying mosaicism. This protocol describes CompDuplex-seq, a duplex sequencing method that combines genome-wide coverage with high accuracy using standard Illumina sequencing workflows. Learn more: www.protocols.io/view/compdup...

In a new (ish) preprint, we used CRISPR barcodes to label germline stem cell clones in zebrafish, then tracked their contributions to sperm production for 2 years. Instead of staying stable, individual clones rose, fell, and disappeared over time. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

We are happy to present a new paper on the sequence dependence of 🧬 replication timing in the cell cycle. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6... 🧵 1/6

RNA-seq tells us how much RNA is present in the cell. But to understand gene regulation, we need to easily measure the synthesis and decay rates driving this abundance. We introduce AIR-seq: analog intrinsic recoding sequencing. (1/6) www.biorxiv.org/content/10.6...

I’ve had the privilege of working with countless people over many years: doing (thousands) of experiments in the @odomlab.bsky.social, before joining forces with @paulflicek.bsky.social @nlbigas.bsky.social @csemple.bsky.social - and of course Martin Taylor @mstaylor.bsky.social and team. [11/14]

🧬NEW PAPER🧬 To what extent is cancer development deterministic? Does the germline genome affect that predictability? Find out in our #StrainDifferences paper @nature.com "Genetic background sets the trajectory of experimental cancer evolution" www.nature.com/articles/s41... 🧵[1/14]

Fantastic to see this out. Everyone on it is fab and has produced an incredible resource @s-j-aitken.bsky.social @mstaylor.bsky.social @odomlab.bsky.social

How do somatic mutations accumulate in healthy tissues? This preprint analyzes nearly 12,000 normal samples across 25 tissues, uncovering ongoing mutagenic processes and providing a framework for studying somatic mutations in normal human cells. www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

What if DNA methylation changes aren’t just ticking of our biological clock but rather the rust breaking the gears? Very excited to share our work - how DNA methylation contributes to stem cell dysfunction and aging, published in @natgenet.nature.com doi.org/10.1038/s415... #epigenetics #aging 1/11

Please join us in NH (perfect place to be in August!) for this inspiring conference organized by @petrovadmitri.bsky.social and Joy Bergelson. Very interdisciplinary, so I look forward to learning tons of new concepts. www.grc.org/function-of-...

Please help me find a great student! I have a PhD position in my lab in Munich, looking at the dynamics of DNA damage and repair from chemotherapy: jobs.dkfz.de/en/jobs/1686... The application deadline is 02.07.26 @dkfz.bsky.social @lmu-klinikum.bsky.social

Now published: journals.plos.org/plosbiology/...

FYI: New online! Evolutionary genetics of ageing

Interested in DNA damage and the mechanisms of mutagenesis? We are hiring post-doctoral scientists as part of the amazing CAUSE Cancer Grand Challenge team. Biochemistry, genomics and computational biology... tinyurl.com/yc5xs3wa tinyurl.com/4unu5uu9 CAUSE www.cancergrandchallenges.org/cause

We are looking for a Data and IT manager. You would set up the group’s data infrastructure, data flows, and overall organization on HPC. We aim to understand genomes 🧬 and ageing 👵 with Big Data and Machine / Deep Learning. Interested? Please apply through jobportal.uni-koeln.de/ausschreibun...

Complementing our recent #Review 'Charting single-cell lineages with synthetic and natural barcodes' by @alejofraticelli.bsky.social & Victoria Parreno (rdcu.be/e50gy), Kun Wang, Xionglei He & Zheng Hu review 'Computational approaches for multimodal lineage tracing': go.nature.com/4nDGGbk

new out in Nature www.nature.com/articles/s41...

A gene is recurrently mutated in cancer. But do these mutations really cause the disease? Or are they merely selected during normal tissue evolution? Postdoc D. Cheek had the creative idea to use patient ages to try and answer this question. Read new paper out here: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

📣 EvolDir is now managed by @eseb.bsky.social! We are delighted to be taking the reins and express our gratitude to both Brian Golding who began this service to the community in the mid-1980s and to @rdmpage.bsky.social who ran this account until now 👏 You can now find evoldir here: evoldir.net

Excited to share our latest work in Nature. Applying single-molecule and single-cell DNA sequencing methods, we uncover an extraordinary landscape of somatic mutations in immune checkpoint genes in autoimmune B cells, suggesting that somatic mutations may be key to autoimmunity [1/n] rdcu.be/fdqbr

Caroline Watson gives the first talk at the Mutations in Time and Space conference on the evolutionary road to AML #MITS2026

Pei-Chi Wei from @dkfz.bsky.social is the last speaker for Mutations in Time and Space 2026. Thanks to everyone who made it such a phenomenal meeting #MITS26

Great talk!! @imartincorena.bsky.social #mits26 Can't wait to read the paper: www.nature.com/articles/s41...

I'm currently on my way to Hinxton for Mutations in Time and Space 2026. The attendee list is insane and I can't wait to see everyone- it's going to be a thrilling few days! #MITS26 coursesandconferences.wellcomeconnectingscience.org/event/mutati...

In vivo lineage tracing across human tissues using methylation barcodes in the protocadherin gene cluster https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.64898/2026.02.23.707349v1

🧬🧬🧬 REGISTRATION JUST OPENED! Make sure you join our DNA REPAIR MEETING 2026 ON PHYSIOLOGICAL CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES OF GENOME INSTABILITY in Cologne, September 7-9, organized by the German Society for DNA Repair (DGDR) and the @dfg.de Research Unit 5504. www.for-5504.com/en/197/Confe...

The abstract deadline for Mutations in Time and Space 2026 closes in 3 weeks time. Sign up here: coursesandconferences.wellcomeconnectingscience.org/event/mutati... As well as thrilling science, the programme includes dinner at the beautiful King's College in Cambridge. @eventswcs.bsky.social

Nature research paper: Decay of driver mutations shapes the landscape of intestinal transformation go.nature.com/49VIh7w