The group of Computational Genomics of Cancer led by Prof. Valentina Boeva is a part of the Department of Computer Science, Institute for Machine Learning at ETH Zurich, Switzerland. We develop methods for omics data analysis to understand the epigenetic and transcriptional plasticity of cancer cells. We expect to discover genetic, transcriptional, or spatial biomarkers to be used in clinics for patient risk stratification and therapeutic guidance.

Our research focus

We develop algorithms and machine learning approaches to address the following questions:

Determine the role of epigenetic remodeling in oncogenic transformation
Investigate the consequences of somatic genomic alterations on the epigenetic landscape in cancer
Adjust methodology for studying genetic and epigenetic plasticity in cancer.

Our methods and techniques for analyzing cancer genomes, transcriptomes, and epigenomes can be applied to most cancer types. Currently, we are interested in understanding the oncogenic processes related to several cancer types: esophageal adenocarcinoma, mesothelioma, lung cancer, neuroblastoma, adrenocortical carcinoma, Ewing sarcoma, and lymphoma. But we are open to collaborations with research groups studying other types of cancer.

Recent projects and highlights:

Modelling effects of non-coding genomic variants on the strength of enhancer-promoter interactions: Preprint
Building single cell transcriptomics foundation model for cancer cells: Preprint
Fitting sparse survival models via knowledge distillation: Paper

Read more about our research projects:

Methods for modeling effects of genetic changes in cancer

Methods for data integration and survival models for prediction of clinical outcome

Methods for molecular signal deconvolution

We offer several projects to bachelor's and master's students. Please check this page for more information!

We may be hiring soon!

Your background is in computer science, mathematics, statistics or bioinformatics, you have already developed statistical or machine learning approaches to analyze biological or medical data?

You like to be challenged with complex problems that need both strong computer science skills and understanding of biology?

You want to work in Europe, contribute to cancer treatment and have access to patient data?

And on the top of that you enjoy Swiss chocolate and cheese, love hiking and skiing/snowboarding?

Then the Boeva lab at ETH Zurich is for you. Apply!