Professor Daniel Brewer
Professor in Medical Bioinformatics and Genomics
research-portal.uea.ac.uk/en/persons/daniel-brewer
I co-lead the Cancer Genetics Team with Prof. Colin Cooper. My main research interests lie in applying and developing novel analytic techniques to large-scale ‘omic datasets from human tumour samples to answer clinically relevant questions in translational cancer research with the aim of improving clinical outcomes, with a focus on prostate cancer. We currently have four main themes:
- The construction and development of molecular biomarkers from urine samples. This has led to the development of the PUR test.
- The development of subtypes of prostate cancer and other cancers. We have identified DESNT, a highly aggressive subtype.
- The analysis of large scale ‘omics datasets to reveal insights in to the aetiology and evolution of prostate cancer, with a particular interest in the clonal expansions found in normal tissue.
- The role bacteria plays in cancer, in particular detecting pathogens in WGS data.
I am chair of the bioinformatics committee and PI of ICGC Prostate UK, a multi-centre project that collects and analyses the whole genome sequences, transcriptomes and methylomes of 250 prostate cancer samples. I am also an active member of other large consortia, including Genomics England 100,000 genome project, the Movember GAP1 Urine project (lead bioinformatician), ICGC PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) project, and the PanProstate Cancer Group.
Funders: Cancer Research UK, Prostate Cancer Research Centre, Prostate Cancer UK, Movember, The Big C Cancer Charity, Bob Champion Cancer Trust