Research
Our group has pioneered the development of single cell genome sequencing technologies,
which we apply to understand complex biological processes in human cancers, including tumor initiation, invasion, metastasis
and therapeutic resistance. We study cancer as an evolutionary process in which clones undergo selection and expansion in
response to selective pressures. We understand the tumor as a complex ecosystem which is maintained by intricate interactions
between the tumor cells and stromal cell types. Our mission is to gain new knowledge of cancer evolution that can be exploited
to improve the quality of life and decrease morbidity in cancer patients. At MD Anderson we are uniquely positioned to
to translate our genomic technologies into the clinic, where they are poised to make a major impact on early detection, diagnostics
and therapeutic strategies in cancer patients.
Single Cell Genomics
Cancer Evolution
Liquid Biopsy Genomics
Computational Biology
The Team
Nicholas Navin
Professor & Chair
Emi Sei
Research Group Leader
Shanshan Bai
Supv, Laboratory & Research
Tuan Tran
Research Laboratory Manager
Jerome Lin
Computational Scientist
Heba Elgamal
Senior Research Assistant
Jianzhuo Li
Research Scientist
Mitchell Rao
Computational Scientist
Chenling Tang
Computational Scientist
Nicolaas Baudoin
Postdoctoral Fellow
Minsoo Kim
Postdoctoral Fellow
Rachel Dittmar
Postdoctoral Fellow
Aatish Thennavan
Postdoctoral Fellow
Ryan Mulqueen
Postdoctoral Fellow
Andres Nevarez
Postdoctoral Fellow
Rui Ye
Postdoctoral Fellow
Sidi Zhao
Postdoctoral Fellow
Xiaodong Liu
Postdoctoral Fellow
Yun Yan
Postdoctoral Fellow
Jie Ye
Graduate Student
Junke (Kris) Wang
Graduate Student
Ping Xu
Graduate Student
Lei Yang
Graduate Student
Mariam Mosaad
Graduate Student
Reem Elghaish
Graduate Student
Chante Bethell
Graduate Student
Xiang (Riley) Li
Graduate Student
Cole Ruoff
Graduate Student
Chia Hsin Lin (Alex)
Graduate Student
Yueting Zhao
Graduate Student
Songyun Li
Graduate Student
Li Yan (Frank) Fei
Graduate Student
ALUMNI
Pictures
Selected publications
Lab News
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2024
Aneuploid epithelial cells in normal breast tissues is published in Nature! (MDACC NEWS)
Dr. Dittmar, postdoctoral fellow, receives funding from the WTA Foundation and the American Cancer Society! (WTA Foundation)
Advanced Spatial Genomics Core facility receives CPRIT funding! (MDACC NEWS)
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2023
Human Breast Cell Atlas is published in Nature! (MDACC NEWS)
Code
Spatial charting of single-cell transcriptomes in tissues (Nature Biotechnology)
CopyKat: Delineating copy number and clonal substructure in human tumors from single-cell transcriptomes (Nature Biotechnology)
SCOPIT: sample size calculations for single-cell sequencing experiments (BMC Bioinformatics)
WeblinkVideos
Meet Dr. Navin and his research program in single cell cancer genomics.
‘Nicholas Navin answers: How are multi-omics approaches helping us decipher human cancer biology?'.
‘Sequencing the Single Cancer Cell’ (2015) ‘Adventures in Genomics’.
‘Sequencing the Single Cell’ (2015) ‘Adventures in Genomics’.
Funding support
We are very grateful for your generous funding support
We seek a talented individual with a strong background in computational biology, data science or bioinformatics. This individual will develop methods to analyze large-scale single cell sequencing datasets to understand cancer evolution. The ideal candidate will have experience in Unix/Linux, scripting languages (Perl, Python), statistical languages (R, Matlab) and experience with next-generation sequencing data analysis.
Requirements: Ph.D. in Bioinformatics, Computational Biology, Biostatistics or Data Science
The Navin laboratory has an open position for a postdoctoral fellow in cancer biology in the department of Genetics at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, TX. We seek a talented individual with a strong background in experimental molecular biology and cancer biology techniques. This individual will work on projects that use single cell DNA and RNA sequencing to study cancer evolution, including invasion, metastasis or therapeutic resistance. The ideal candidate will have strong scientific writing skills, experience in genomics and computational biology.
Requirements: Ph.D. in Molecular Biology, Genomics or Cancer Biology
The CPRIT Single Cell Genomics Center and Navin laboratory are seeking a Senior Research Assistant that will work on the processing human tissue samples and prepare them for various single cell sequencing library preparations (10x Genomics), including DNA, RNA and ATAC data. Please see the description for more details.
Requirements: BS in natural sciences or related field with 3+ years experience.
Preferred: MS or Ph.D. in natural sciences or related field with experience in NGS, qPCR, PCR and tissue culture experience.
To apply please send a CV and cover letter to Nicholas Navin at 'nnavin' (at) mdanderson (dot) org.