Featured Publications
Pairwise and higher-order epistatic effects among somatic cancer mutations across oncogenesis
Alfaro-Murillo J, Townsend J. Pairwise and higher-order epistatic effects among somatic cancer mutations across oncogenesis. Mathematical Biosciences 2023, 366: 109091. PMID: 37996064, PMCID: PMC10847963, DOI: 10.1016/j.mbs.2023.109091.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchStrength of selectionEpistatic effectsSelection coefficientsMutation rateHigher-order epistatic effectsLarge mutation ratesLarge selection coefficientsSomatic cancer mutationsUncontrolled cell growthSomatic evolutionMultiple somatic mutationsDriver genesCancer mutationsCancer research communityGenesSomatic genotypeCell growthOncogenesisMutationsSomatic mutationsEvolutionary modelsConsequent trajectoriesCancer genotypesPersonalized cancer therapyMutual exclusivity
2016
Early and multiple origins of metastatic lineages within primary tumors
Zhao ZM, Zhao B, Bai Y, Iamarino A, Gaffney SG, Schlessinger J, Lifton RP, Rimm DL, Townsend JP. Early and multiple origins of metastatic lineages within primary tumors. Proceedings Of The National Academy Of Sciences Of The United States Of America 2016, 113: 2140-2145. PMID: 26858460, PMCID: PMC4776530, DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1525677113.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchConceptsMetastatic lineagesGenetic changesEarly genetic divergenceMolecular evolutionary modelsSingle genetic changeDivergent lineagesTumor phylogeneticsDivergence timesAncestral stateGenetic divergenceCancer lineagesPhylogenetic analysisEvolutionary processesLineagesCancer evolutionMultiple originsDriver genesCancer biologyCancer progressionSomatic mutationsTumor developmentEvolutionary modelsDriver mutationsChronogramMutations
2015
Inferring the Origin of Metastases from Cancer Phylogenies
Hong WS, Shpak M, Townsend JP. Inferring the Origin of Metastases from Cancer Phylogenies. Cancer Research 2015, 75: 4021-4025. PMID: 26260528, PMCID: PMC4833389, DOI: 10.1158/0008-5472.can-15-1889.Peer-Reviewed Reviews, Practice Guidelines, Standards, and Consensus StatementsConceptsComplete phylogenyEvolutionary historyPhylogeny-based testsFuture phylogenetic studiesMolecular evolutionary modelsMetastatic subclonesMonophyletic cladePhylogenetic reconstructionCancer lineagesPhylogenetic studiesNatural selectionPhylogenyCancer phylogeniesOrigin of metastasesCancer biologyMetastatic cascadeSubclonesTargeted sequencingEvolutionary modelsDriver mutationsUltra-deep sequencingSequencingRecent studiesMonophylyClade
2014
The impact of incorporating molecular evolutionary model into predictions of phylogenetic signal and noise
Su Z, Wang Z, López-Giráldez F, Townsend J. The impact of incorporating molecular evolutionary model into predictions of phylogenetic signal and noise. Frontiers In Ecology And Evolution 2014, 2: 11. DOI: 10.3389/fevo.2014.00011.Peer-Reviewed Original ResearchPhylogenetic inferencePhylogenetic signalRate of evolutionMolecular evolutionary modelsAccurate phylogenetic inferenceFour-taxon treesYeast genus CandidaMolecular evolutionConsensus treeNucleotide substitutionsPrediction of signalsDistribution of signalsEvolutionary modelsModel choiceGenus CandidaUnrealistic modelsCorrect modelInferenceTreesRPB1PhylogenyCladePhylogeneticsRPB2Markov model