Peter Van Loo, Ph.D.
Department of Genetics, Division of VP, Research
About Peter Van Loo
Dr. Peter Van Loo is a Professor and CPRIT Scholar in Cancer Research at the Department of Genetics, MD Anderson Cancer Center, with a joint appointment in the Department of Genomic Medicine.
During his postdoctoral training at the University of Oslo, the University of Leuven, and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Dr. Van Loo pioneered computational techniques to study copy-number alterations in cancer genomes, and approaches to study the evolutionary history and subclonal architecture of tumors from whole-genome sequencing data, a field coined “molecular archeology of cancer”. Prior to joining MD Anderson, he was a Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London, where he still leads a research group. His work has furthered our understanding of cancer development, intra-tumor heterogeneity, and metastatic dissemination. His research has sketched the typical evolutionary trajectories of many cancer types, allowing insight into the timelines and sequence of events in cancer development.
At MD Anderson, Dr. Van Loo continues to spearhead molecular archeology of cancer approaches to advance our understanding of how cancer develops and evolves, how metastatic cancer spreads, and how resistance to therapy emerges.
In recognition of his work, Dr Van Loo was awarded a Cancer Research UK Future Leaders in Cancer Research Prize in 2015 and a VIB Alumni Award in 2017.
View a complete list of Dr. Van Loo's publications. Visit Dr. Van Loo’s Lab website. Follow Dr. Van Loo on Twitter: @VanLooLab View Dr. Van Loo’s publication highlights as reflected in Elsevier’s Scopus database.
Present Title & Affiliation
Primary Appointment
Professor, Department of Genetics, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX
Research Interests
Cancer Genomics and Evolution – Molecular archeology of cancer
Our group has pioneered molecular archeology of cancer approaches to study the evolutionary history and subclonal architecture of tumors. These approaches have significantly advanced our understanding of how cancer develops and evolves, how metastatic cancer spreads, and how resistance to therapy emerges. We use these existing molecular archeology of cancer approaches and develop novel ones, to perform large-scale pan-cancer studies of tumor evolution, as well as focused studies in specific tumor types, aiming to answer the key question: How do tumors evolve?
View a complete list of Dr. Van Loo's publications. Visit Dr. Van Loo’s Lab website. Follow Dr. Van Loo on Twitter: @VanLooLab View Dr. Van Loo’s publication highlights as reflected in Elsevier’s Scopus database.
Education & Training
Degree-Granting Education
| 2008 | University of Leuven, Leuven, BEL, PHD, Medical Sciences |
| 2004 | University of Leuven, Leuven, BEL, MS, Cell- and Gene Biotechnology |
| 2003 | University of Leuven, Leuven, BEL, MS, Electrotechnical Engineering |
Postgraduate Training
| 2010-2014 | Postdoctoral Researcher, Cancer Genome Project, Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton Cambridge |
| 2008-2010 | Postdoctoral Researcher, Human Genome Laboratory, VIB and University of Leuven, Leuven |
| 2008-2008 | Postdoctoral Researcher, Institute for Cancer Research, University of Oslo, Oslo |
Experience & Service
Academic Appointments
Assistant Professor (10% appointment), University of Leuven, Leuven, 2013 - 2019
Honors & Awards
| 2015 | Cancer Research UK Future Leaders in Cancer Research Prize |
Professional Memberships
Selected Publications
Peer-Reviewed Articles
- Ottina E, Panova V, Doglio L, Kazachenka A, Cornish G, Kirkpatrick J, Attig J, Young GR, Litchfield K, Lesluyes T, Van Loo P, Swanton C, MacRae J, Tüting T, Kassiotis G. E3 ubiquitin ligase HECTD2 mediates melanoma progression and immune evasion. Oncogene 40(37):5567-5578, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 34145398.
- Ross EM, Haase K, Van Loo P, Markowetz F. Allele-specific multi-sample copy number segmentation in ASCAT. Bioinformatics 37(13):1909-1911, 2021. PMID: 32449758.
- Dentro SC, Leshchiner I, Haase K, Tarabichi M, Wintersinger J, Deshwar AG, Yu K, Rubanova Y, Macintyre G, Demeulemeester J, Vázquez-García I, Kleinheinz K, Livitz DG, Malikic S, Donmez N, Sengupta S, Anur P, Jolly C, Cmero M, Rosebrock D, Schumacher SE, Fan Y, Fittall M, Drews RM, Yao X, Watkins TBK, Lee J, Schlesner M, Zhu H, Adams DJ, McGranahan N, Swanton C, Getz G, Boutros PC, Imielinski M, Beroukhim R, Sahinalp SC, Ji Y, Peifer M, Martincorena I, Markowetz F, Mustonen V, Yuan K, Gerstung M, Spellman PT, Wang W, Morris QD, Wedge DC, Van Loo P, PCAWG Evolution and Heterogeneity Working Group and the PCAWG Consortium. Characterizing genetic intra-tumor heterogeneity across 2,658 human cancer genomes. Cell 184(8):2239-2254.e39, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33831375.
- Minussi DC, Nicholson MD, Ye H, Davis A, Wang K, Baker T, Tarabichi M, Sei E, Du H, Rabbani M, Peng C, Hu M, Bai S, Lin YW, Schalck A, Multani A, Ma J, McDonald TO, Casasent A, Barrera A, Chen H, Lim B, Arun B, Meric-Bernstam F, Van Loo P, Michor F, Navin NE. Breast tumours maintain a reservoir of subclonal diversity during expansion. Nature 592(7853):302-308, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33762732.
- Chatsirisupachai K, Lesluyes T, Paraoan L, Van Loo P, de Magalhães JP. An integrative analysis of the age-associated multi-omic landscape across cancers. Nat Commun 12(1):2345, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33879792.
- Litchfield K, Reading JL, Puttick C, Thakkar K, Abbosh C, Bentham R, Watkins TBK, Rosenthal R, Biswas D, Rowan A, Lim E, Al Bakir M, Turati V, Guerra-Assunção JA, Conde L, Furness AJS, Saini SK, Hadrup SR, Herrero J, Lee SH, Van Loo P, Enver T, Larkin J, Hellmann MD, Turajlic S, Quezada SA, McGranahan N, Swanton C. Meta-analysis of tumor- and T cell-intrinsic mechanisms of sensitization to checkpoint inhibition. Cell 184(3):596-614.e14, 2021. e-Pub 2021. PMID: 33508232.
Other Articles
- Morotti M, Albukhari A, Alsaadi A, Artibani M, Brenton JD, Curbishley SM, Dong T, Dustin ML, Hu Z, McGranahan N, Miller ML, Santana-Gonzalez L, Seymour LW, Shi T, Van Loo P, Yau C, White H, Wietek N, Church DN, Wedge DC, Ahmed AA Promises and challenges of adoptive T-cell therapies for solid tumours. Br J Cancer 124(11):1759-1776, 2021. PMID: 33782566.
- Tarabichi M, Salcedo A, Deshwar AG, Ni Leathlobhair M, Wintersinger J, Wedge DC, Van Loo P, Morris QD, Boutros PC A practical guide to cancer subclonal reconstruction from DNA sequencing. Nat Methods 18(2):144-155, 2021. PMID: 33398189.
Grant & Contract Support
| Title: | Recruitment of Established Investigators - Dr. Peter Van Loo |
| Funding Source: | Cancer Prevention & Research Institute of Texas (CPRIT) |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |
| Title: | Characterizing the somatic genomic landscape of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumours at single-cell and single-molecule resolution |
| Funding Source: | NF Research Initiative |
| Role: | Principal Investigator |