Jean-Luc Van Laethem

Belgium

Working on the molecular characterization of PDAC patient samples, our group has constructed PDAC cohorts before and after neoadjuvant chemotherapy with comprehensive -omics characterization and clinical-pathological annotations. We will participate in the unsupervised mapping of the SLIT-ROBO gene expression landscape from bulk and compartment-specific RNAseq data.

Further, via spatial multi-omics analyses, we will elucidate expression landscape of SLITs and ROBOs in the tumor-stroma context of human PDAC and correlate with immune status. Finally, we will try to associate this with clinical annotations and develop a predictive biomarker.

Partner 5

Expertise

The main research subjects of Dr Jean-Luc Van Laethem’s group are:

to identify generic and specific genes associated with the clinical behavior of (resected) pancreatic cancer and the benefit of different adjuvant vs palliative therapies.
to correlate molecular subtyping classification to histo-morphological patterns, focusing on immune infiltrate and stromal components.
to in-depth explore molecular subgroups and perform pathway enrichment analysis in order to identify new possible druggable targets.
to integrate the molecular characterization into clinical trials in neoadjuvant therapy of PDAC (correlation with molecular profile, dynamic imaging monitoring and pathological response/pattern after tumour resection (window trials)).