Innovations Teams
Mutational Epidemiology Team (MET)

Starting date: September 2025

Work Programme

Overarching goal
The goal of the Mutational Epidemiology Team (MET) is to lead global efforts in understanding cancer causation by analysing different –omics techniques as a tool to investigate known and novel risk factors across populations, especially in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). MET aims to identify patterns of mutagenesis and cancer promotion that reflect environmental, lifestyle, and endogenous exposures, thereby providing epidemiological and mechanistic evidence that informs cancer prevention and public health strategies.

Work plan
MET pursues four main objectives, each supported by specific projects.

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• Discovering the molecular signatures of cancer PROMotion to INform prevENTion (PROMINENT) (https://teamprominent.com/) (2022–2028)
• Discovering the Causes of Three Poorly Understood Cancers in Europe (DISCERN) (https://discern.iarc.who.int/) (2023–2028)
• Mutographs project – unknown environmental exposures (2025–2032)
• Genomic Effects of Obesity in Breast Cancer in LMICs (BRIDGE) (2024–2026)
• The Causes of the Global Increase in Early-Onset Colorectal Cancer (ECCE) (2026–2032)
• MicroEnvironmental Context ANd genomic instability co-evolution throughout leukoplakia development (MECANIC) (2025–2028)

Team Composition

Team Leaders: Dr Aida Ferreiro, Dr Ana Carolina de Carvalho, Dr Paul Brennan, and Dr Sandra Perdomo, Genomic Epidemiology Branch (GEM), IARC
Emails: FerreiroA@iarc.who.int; DecarvalhoC@iarc.who.int; BrennanP@iarc.who.int; PerdomoS@iarc.who.int

Team members:
Dr Ievgeniia Chicherova (Project Officer, GEM)
Dr Mehrnaz Shamalnasab (Project Officer, GEM)
Ms Valérie Gaborieau (Principal Research Assistant, Data Management/Analysis, GEM)
Mr Thomas Cattiaux (Senior Research Assistant, Data Management/Analysis, GEM)
Ms Priscilia Chopard (Research Assistant, Laboratory Services, GEM)
Ms Apostolia Gougousi (Project Assistant, GEM)
Ms Natalia Alves (Project Assistant, GEM)
Dr Laura Torrens Fontanals (Postdoctoral Scientist, GEM)
Dr Marie-Laure Aix (Postdoctoral Scientist, GEM)
Dr Michael Olanipekun (Postdoctoral Scientist, GEM)
Dr Yijie Li (Postdoctoral Scientist, GEM)
Dr Zhouyi Yin (Postdoctoral Scientist, GEM)
Dr Hedda Michelle Guevara (Postdoctoral Scientist, GEM)

IARC collaborators:
Dr James McKay (Scientist, GEM)
Dr Behnoush Abedi-Ardekani (Scientist, Pathologist, GEM)
Dr Pekka Keski-Rahkonen (Scientist, NME)
Dr Laure Dossus (Scientist, NME)
Dr Zisis Kozlakidis (Head, LSB)
Dr Dilani Samarawickrema Lokuhetty (Head, WHO Classification of Tumours, ESC)

External collaborators:
Professor Mike Stratton (Wellcome Sanger Institute, United Kingdom)
Professor Marc Gunter (Imperial College London, United Kingdom)
Professor Ludmil Alexandrov (University of California San Diego, USA)
Professor Nuria López-Bigas (IRB Barcelona, Spain)
Professor Emma Lundberg (Stanford University, USA)
Dr Charlotte Stadler (SciLifeLab, Sweden)
Dr Mats Nilsson (SciLifeLab, Sweden)

Key networks: Mutographs consortium, Discovering the Causes of Three Poorly Understood Cancers in Europe (DISCERN) consortium, Head and Neck Cancer Epidemiology and Genomic Studies on Prognosis and Survival (HEADSpAcE), Genomic Effects of Obesity in Breast Cancer in LMICs (BRiDGE)

Key funding: Cancer Research UK, United States National Institutes of Health (NIH), European Union (EU) Cancer Mission, Wellcome Sanger Institute, Institut national du Cancer (INCa), European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant, Institut national de la santé et de la recherche médicale (INSERM)

Key publications

1. Downham L, Laversanne M, Perdomo S, Filho AM, Bray F, Brennan P (2025). Increase of early-onset colorectal cancer: a cohort effect. J Natl Cancer Inst. djaf238. https://doi.org/10.1093/jnci/djaf238 PMID:40848248
2. Díaz-Gay M, Dos Santos W, Moody S, Kazachkova M, Abbasi A, Steele CD, et al. (2025). Geographic and age variations in mutational processes in colorectal cancer. Nature. 643(8070):230–40. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09025-8 PMID:40267983
3. Torrens L, Moody S, de Carvalho AC, Kazachkova M, Abedi-Ardekani B, Cheema S, et al. (2025). The complexity of tobacco smoke-induced mutagenesis in head and neck cancer. Nat Genet. 57(4):884–96. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-025-02134-0 PMID:40164736
4. Senkin S, Moody S, Díaz-Gay M, Abedi-Ardekani B, Cattiaux T, Ferreiro-Iglesias A, et al. (2024). Geographic variation of mutagenic exposures in kidney cancer genomes. Nature. 629(8013):910–8. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07368-2 PMID:38693263
5. Perdomo S, Abedi-Ardekani B, de Carvalho AC, Ferreiro-Iglesias A, Gaborieau V, Cattiaux T, et al. (2024). The Mutographs biorepository: a unique genomic resource to study cancer around the world. Cell Genom. 4(3):100500. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xgen.2024.100500 PMID:38325367