Systems medicine of triple negative breast cancer

Highly differentiated diseases require large-volume, high-resolution datasets and novel analytical approaches to find recurring patterns in large spectrum of genetic and molecular variation. In collaboration with medical and experimental groups at the Charité University Hospital Berlin we address the question of high molecular heterogeneity in Triple Negative Breast Cancer (TNBC). This most aggressive breast cancer subtype with high rates of recurrence and mortality offers currently no therapy options.

In this project we expand over the existing knowledge of the genetic heterogeneity between and within TNBC tumors, by investigating the differences in their transcriptome, proteome and morphology as well as the extracellular matrix components and immune cell environment. Our analysis is based on patient samples from prospective clinical trials at multiple levels. 

We strive to establish a novel type of biomarkers that instead of individual molecule levels will integrate multiple types of information and will be quantified with the use of machine learning and mathematical models.