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We develop technologies for doctors to make better decisions faster.

We tackle some of the most deadly cancers with genomes that look like a chaotic mess of missing and redundant parts – like ovarian, oesophageal and pancreatic cancer. 

We work on (1) understanding the mechanisms behind this genomic chaos; (2) how to target cancer weaknesses with therapies; (3) how to overcome resistance to treatment; and (4) how to spot cancers as early as possible. 

The methods we use combine machine learning and AI with experimental techniques ranging from single cell sequencing to tissue imaging. 

Professor Florian Markowetz

Senior Group Leader
Associate Director of Artificial Intelligence

Projects

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The 17 deadly CINs

We have developed a compendium of 17 copy number signatures characterising different types of chromosomal instability (CIN) and continuously work on extending and refining it. Current efforts are to further validate the signatures in large data cohorts and to extend them to single cell data, which will allow us to measure currently active mutational processes and evaluate how well they predict treatment response. This work is funded by an ERC (now UKRI) grant and the foundation of Tailor Bio, a genomics start up. 

Read more about copy number signatures: Drews et al (2022), Macintyre et al (2018); and their applications: Smith et al (2023), Vias, Morrill et al (2023), Cheng et al (2022), Jiménez-Sánchez et al (2020). 

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Spotting cancer in the blink of an AI

We are creating AI approaches to analyse data from the Cytosponge, a minimally invasive device to detect a precursor of oesophageal cancer. Our work automates labour-intensive tasks and refines pathology biomarkers to identify the patients at the highest risk of developing cancer. 

Read more about it: Gehrung et al (2021), Berman et al (2022) 

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Come and shine

I support ambitious researchers to reach the next level of their careers. Over the last 5 years, the Markowetz Lab has created 3 spin-out companies and 5 PIs.

Our supportive and interdisciplinary lab is a great incubator for your career, wherever it takes you. 

Our mission

Our mission is to build technologies for doctors to make better decisions faster

This means that our group is medically oriented, very applied (aka “translational”) and that we focus on projects for which we have a line-of-sight to real-world impact.

Core values

The success of our lab is built on our shared core values: 

Collaboration: We work in a close scientific network and we contribute proactively to all collaborations. 

Creativity: We do things differently (better, we think) and our approaches and questions are unique; we don’t just do what everyone else is doing. 

Generosity: We are generous with time and support. We help each other and collaborators (without, say, immediately asking for an authorship in return). 

People over projects: We shape the project to fit your strengths and ideas. 

Rigour: We do things right. We walk the extra mile. If it looks like more work it probably is the right thing to do. 

Transparency: We share code, drafts, data, and any other information freely inside and outside the group. We talk openly about your plans and projects. 

Further reading

If you are interested in working in our lab, please reach out to lab members, nothing can replace these personal impressions. However, the following articles can be a start to learning more about the spirit of the lab.

You Are Not Working for Me; I Am Working with You
All models are wrong and yours are useless
Five selfish reasons to work reproducibly
Why science needs continuous leadership support
The care and maintenance of your adviser

 

 

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