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- Associate professor, Chief Physician MD, PhD, Karin Wadt
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Our group focuses on the question: "Why do children get cancer?". Childhood cancers make up less than one percent of all human cancers, and unlike adult cancers, cancers in children tend to originate from stem cells, have just a few atypical driver mutations, and develop in the absence of environmental factors. It is evident that childhood cancers have unique causes that can only be understood through the study of children with cancer. The Etiology Group at Bonkolab explores this question through epidemiological research using nation-wide registries, biochemical studies (including exploration of neonatal blood spot biomarkers), and broad genetic investigations. Bonkolab has led the STAGING project, a Danish nationwide exploration of germline whole genomes of children with all types of cancer. Data from STAGING is collected and used in research aimed at improving both treatment and prevention of childhood cancers. For instance, data from STAGING has been used to investigate novel analytical strategies, one that have identified new links between mutations and childhood cancer risk, and another that provided 20-fold lowering of the cost of identifying rare mutations in large cohorts. The latter renders population screening for select childhood cancer predisposition syndromes economically feasible - a prospect with extensive ethical and clinical consequences.