Dissecting chromatin accessibility and somatic mitochondrial DNA mutational landscapes in single cells during neuroblastoma evolution (A02)

• Subject Area: Bioinformatics and Theoretical Biology ; General Genetics and Functional Genome Biology ; Hematology, Oncology ; Human Genetics
• Term: since 2023
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 493872418

The project tests the integration of single cell state data with clonal inference as a strategy to identify clonal tumor population dynamics and genomic heterogeneity. Multi-omics data from single tumor cells will be used to develop a complementary strategy for monitoring clonal disease in liquid biopsies. Chromatin landscapes and CNVs and mtDNA mutations will be used to decipher gene regulatory elements and transcription factor activities in tumor and immune cells and to reconstruct (sub-)clonal populations of developing tumors and their immune microenvironment. Cell-free mtDNA is being evaluated as a method for disease surveillance.

• DFG Programme: Collaborative Research Centres
• Subproject of: SFB 1588: Decoding and Targeting Mechanisms of Neuroblastoma Evolution
• Applicant Institution: shared FU Berlin and HU Berlin through:; Charité - Universitätsmedizin Berlin
• Project Heads: Dr. Kerstin Haase, until 8/2023; Dr. Laleh Haghverdi, since 9/2023; Dr. Leif Ludwig