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SUMMARY:Branching Out Seminar Series - The curse of scale\, more cells mor
 e rouges\, and the impossibility of whales: somatic evolution across the t
 ree of life - Alex Cagan
DTSTART:20240314T130000Z
DTEND:20240314T140000Z
UID:TALK212839@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:121279
DESCRIPTION:Somatic mutations accumulate in health cells throughout life. 
 They underpin the development of cancer and have been speculated to contri
 bute to ageing. Directly studying these mutations in normal tissues has be
 en challenging due to the difficulty of detecting mutations present in sin
 gle cells or small clones in a tissue. Recent technical advances are begin
 ning to enable the study of somatic mutation in normal tissues\, revealing
  how our cells accumulate mutations at different rates and how clonal expa
 nsions of mutant cells can colonise tissues. Yet relatively little is know
 n about how these processes operate in non-human species. We performed who
 le-genome sequencing of 208 intestinal crypts from 56 individuals to study
  the landscape of somatic mutation across 16 mammalian species. This compa
 rative analysis of somatic mutagenesis sheds light on the diversity of mut
 agenic processes across species\, and on long-standing questions regarding
  the evolution of somatic mutation rates and their role in cancer and agei
 ng. We are now developing duplex sequencing methods that will enable us to
  study somatic evolution across any cell type in any species across the tr
 ee of life (including plants). This  will enable insights into the diversi
 ty of somatic mutational processes across species and their role in evolut
 ion\, disease and ageing.\n\nPLease register here: https://www.cognitoform
 s.com/SainsburyLaboratory/CopyOfSainsburyLaboratoryBranchingOutLectureSeri
 esProfAlexCagan2024
LOCATION:47 Bateman Street 
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