Welcome to the Landau Lab

Defining human somatic evolution through advanced genomics technolgies

Uncovering the functional, temporal and spatial features of somatic cell evolution

The human somatic genome collectively represents the product of trillions of cell divisions over an individual’s lifespan. Thus, tissues are not homogenous, but rather contains a multitude of clones. Our research answers key mechanistic questions about somatic evolution, using genomics to provide a window into this next frontier of human genetics.

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Explore our exciting projects

  • Mapping genotypes to molecular phenotypes in single cells

    To chart how somatic mutations disrupt cellular processes (gene expression, mRNA splicing, epigenetic regulation) in human clonal outgrowths, we develop single-cell multiomics technologies to map genotypes to phenotypes directly in primary human samples.

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  • Plasma whole-genome sequencing for liquid biopsy

    We develop new ultra-low error whole-genome sequencing technologies combined with powerful machine-learning methods to analyze plasma cell-free DNA for liquid biopsy, in order to non-invasively and longitudinally monitor somatic evolution using blood tests. These innovative methods have enabled monitoring of minimal residual disease levels in patients and currently are part of clinical trials.

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  • Defining heritability and plasticity of single-cell phenotypes in somatic evolution

    We construct single-cell lineage trees using high-throughput sequencing technologies to reconstruct somatic evolution in time, capturing cell ancestry together with phenotypic information in order to analyze how cell states evolve over time within actual patient samples.

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