I’m very grateful to be one of the 2026 Pew-Stewart Cancer Research scholars! Thanks to @pew.org and The Alexander and Margaret Stewart Trust for supporting, @yalecancer.bsky.social for nominating, and my lab, mentors, collaborators, letter writers, and reviewers for their confidence in our work.

Congratulations to Sarah Aitken, MBChB, PhD, @s-j-aitken.bsky.social, named to the 2026 class of the Pew-Stewart Scholars Program for Cancer Research. medicine.yale.edu/news-article... @pewtrusts.bsky.social @yalepathology.bsky.social

Two great postdoc projects, amazing team, fabulous city… ⬇️

Congratulations to Dr Klaske Schukken for her postdoc work on aneuploidy dependencies: three different approaches, dozens of genome wide CRISPR screens, and functionally validated results. Well done Klaske 🤩

Tumor promotion through the lens of evolution This review grew out of many long conversations, shared ideas, and lively discussions It has been a real pleasure to think together with Allan, Paul, Eve, and Abel about how tumours develop and how carcinogens shape cancer risk rdcu.be/fdC2J

Excited to share our latest work in Nature. Applying single-molecule and single-cell DNA sequencing methods, we uncover an extraordinary landscape of somatic mutations in immune checkpoint genes in autoimmune B cells, suggesting that somatic mutations may be key to autoimmunity [1/n] rdcu.be/fdqbr

The 67th #IWD of 2026 👩🏽‍💻👩🏼‍🔬👩🏾‍⚕️👩🏻‍🏫🌈✊🏾🌍

We’re excited to reveal that team CAUSE led by Ludmil Alexandrov at @ucsandiego.bsky.social has been selected by @cancergrand.bsky.social to receive up to $25m over approx 5 years to take on one of cancer’s toughest challenges. Congratulations @mstaylor.bsky.social from IGC & team: edin.ac/4kYC1iR

📰 News announcement! www.cancergrandchallenges.org/new-teams-an... We’re thrilled to welcome five world-leading scientific teams, each awarded up to £20 million, to take on some of the toughest unanswered questions in #CancerResearch. Find out more about the teams and their challenges.

Today (and every day), we are doing our bit towards Building Inclusive Futures for Women and Girls (and men and boys) Claudia, Emma, and Yi in Cambridge; Barbara in Madrid; and Klaske, Rohini, Tanuja, Vanessa, and Katie in New Haven 👩🏻‍💻👩🏼‍🔬👩🏽‍⚕️ #idwgs2026 #WomenInSTEM #WWCode

Thank you @s-j-aitken.bsky.social for the warm welcome! So pumped to join the team and study tiny tweaks reshaping (evolutionary) history 🧬⚡️🦀

🥳 Welcome to Dr Rohini Janivara @rohinijanivara.bsky.social who has joined the #AitkenLab @yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social as a postdoctoral associate. Rohini completed her PhD in bioinformatics at Georgia Tech - and now we are looking forward to working together on all things mutations and cancer!

Very grateful to have received the Wyllie Medal from the Pathological Society of Great Britain & Ireland and to share our collaborative work on "Genomic Pathology: from DNA mutations to cancer evolution" #GenomicPathology #EvolutionAndDisease #PathSoc #JeanShanks

Thanks for everything! I will miss being around in the lab but see you online 🫶🏻

It has been an absolute pleasure to host @bhernando.bsky.social here at @yalecancer.bsky.social for the last few months! I've learnt so much, and your generosity and enthusiasm will be greatly missed. Looking forward to future collaboration, friendship - and paella 🤩 @yalepathology.bsky.social

Celebrating my first year at @yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social with two talks today: @yalepathology.bsky.social Grand Rounds at lunchtime. And the Center of GI Cancers seminar this evening - thanks to @pamelakunzmd.bsky.social for the invite!

📢 New preprint out! We are thrilled to introduce our framework to track #ongoingCIN by leveraging single-cell genomics and CIN signatures: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

The exciting next instalment of Mutations in Time and Space... Open for registration now

📢 EvoMG-DN PhD applications are now open! Join our EU-funded MSCA network and explore evolution, ageing, and disease. 👉 www.evomg-dn.eu 📅 Apply by 30 November 2025 #PhD #DoctoralTraining #MSCA #HorizonEurope #Genomics #EvolutionaryBiology #BiomedicalResearch#EarlyCareerResearchers

It was an honor to take part in the @yalepathology.bsky.social research retreat today! Great science, inspiring discussions, a fun “guess who?”, and wonderful people. Huge thanks to organizers for such a great work! Can’t believe only 2 months left to enjoy this amazing #AitkenLab team ✨

Today was our first Yale Pathology Department retreat - with Klaske, Barbara, Jacob, and Vanessa (we missed you Tanuja!) Great to present our work with a poster and two talks, share ideas, and meet new people 🇨🇦🇪🇸🇬🇧🇳🇱🇺🇸🌎 @yalepathology.bsky.social @bhernando.bsky.social

Find out all about what's going on in Dr Coraline Mlynarczyk‬'s lab - our neighbours at #CMCO... 📽️ Exploring the interface between Immunology and Cancer @yalepathology.bsky.social

A trio of talks this week: Grand Rounds @jhu.edu yesterday. Then @bhernando.bsky.social (who has only been here a fortnight!) and I gave talks at the NYC Genome Integrity Discussion group @rockefeller.edu. Thanks for inviting us Agata Smogorzewska and Philipp Oberdoerffer @yalepathology.bsky.social

🚨 New paper alert! Sex and smoking bias in the selection of somatic mutations in human bladder www.nature.com/articles/s41... by @raquelbmi.bsky.social, @ferriol.bsky.social et al (in collaboration with Rosana Risques lab in @uwmedicine.bsky.social)

Exciting 3 months ahead at the #AitkenLab @yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social! 🤩 Huge thanks to @s-j-aitken.bsky.social for the warm welcome, and to @caixaresearch.bsky.social for supporting my research career at all levels ✨

🥳 Today we welcome Dr Bárbara Hernando @bhernando.bsky.social to the #AitkenLab @yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social Bárbara joins us from #CNIO as part of her @caixaresearch.bsky.social Postdoctoral Junior Leader Fellowship @yalepathology.bsky.social @yalecancer.bsky.social @cniostopcancer.bsky.social

A fantastic (first) Closer to Free Ride: 100 miles with friends from #NHBC, colleagues from @yalecancer.bsky.social , and a #CycloPath we met along the way. Thank you for all the sponsorship - and the support on the road! #CTFRide @ctfride.bsky.social

Yesterday was our fourth lab-iversary 🥳 In the last year we moved to the US, welcomed new lab members at Yale and in Cambridge, mastered Transatlantic hybrid lab life, posted preprints, published others, submitted grants... Looking forward to what year five has in store! @yalepathology.bsky.social

💡 Cancer cells don’t just mutate—they reorganize their DNA in 3D space. Our new study shows how the genome’s folding pattern shifts as tumors progress, cell by cell 🧩🧬. It’s the first 3D genome atlas of cancer progression. Thread 👇

Almost half way to our fundraising target - and only two weeks to go! I'll be riding the 100 mile #CloserToFreeRide to raise money to support cancer research and patient care. Please consider donating - every penny counts! ➡️ www.rideclosertofree.org/participants... #CTFRide @ctfride.bsky.social

The Sanger Excellence Fellowship is back for 2025! Our 3 year fully funded postdoctoral position supports early-career researchers from Black heritage backgrounds. 📅 Apply by 7 Sept 2025 🔗 www.sanger.ac.uk/about/equali... #BlackInSTEM #GenomicsResearch

Last but not least, if you're interested in somatic mutations, new technologies and computational genomics - we're hiring a postdoc in my brand new lab @emblebi.bsky.social! Reach out if interested or you have any questions, and apply here: embl.wd103.myworkdayjobs.com/en-US/EMBL/j...

The cells in our bodies constantly acquire mutations. But what are the patterns of mutations across tissues? How do mutations in normal cells lead to cancer and disease? These are questions we will tackle within the Somatic Mosaicism across Human Tissues (SMaHT) Network, now described in @nature.com

On Sep 6 we are riding to raise funds for cancer research and patient care. Join the #Cyclopaths team to ride with us! Can chose 10/25/40/65/100 miles 🚴 or support the effort with a donation :) www.rideclosertofree.org/index.cfm?fu... www.rideclosertofree.org/index.cfm?fu...

Together with friends and colleagues from #CMCO @yalecancer.bsky.social, @yalepathology.bsky.social, and further afield, we are the #CycloPaths Closer to Free Ride 🚲06 September 2025 💪100 miles #CTFRide Join our team, spread the word, sponsor us if you can www.rideclosertofree.org/participants...

A great week in Lisbon at the European Association for Cancer Research 2025 Congress. Thank you @helloeacr.bsky.social for the #WomenInLeadership Workshop, the opportunity to present our #ProfferedPaper, and to talk science with collaborators (and make new ones!) #EACR2025

@s-j-aitken.bsky.social comments on a live-cell tracking system that shows how DNA damage spreads unevenly through generations of cells, driving genome instability + heterogeneity potentially shaping #cancer evolution and resistance. nature.com/articles/d41... @yalepathology.bsky.social @nature.com

Does #Genetic Background Set the Trajectory of #Cancer Evolution? @s-j-aitken.bsky.social Assistant Professor of #Pathology at @yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social, covered that topic at today’s @yalecancer.bsky.social Translational Science Retreat. Dr. Aitken specializes in GI & molecular pathology.

🔬Under the microscope: DNA damage tracked through cell generations🔬 It was a pleasure to write this #NewsAndViews with our PhD student Emma Reilly, online today @nature.com rdcu.be/em0qi @cruk-ci.bsky.social @spjacksongroup.bsky.social @yalepathology.bsky.social @yalecancer.bsky.social

Lastly, many thanks to Sarah Aitken (@s-j-aitken.bsky.social) and Emma Reilly for writing a great News & Views article that summarizes our findings and puts them into perspective. You can find it here: doi.org/10.1038/d415...

🚨New preprint!🚨 Venturing out of the nuclear genome to explore #mtDNA: "Germline and somatic variation influence nuclear-mitochondrial crosstalk in tumourigenesis" www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1... Led by Dr. Maëlle Daunesse and @paulflicek.bsky.social - and many other #LCEConsortium members ⬇️

Four rising stars at the forefront of cancer research - featuring #PatternSleuth @oriolpich.bsky.social 🤩 www.nature.com/articles/d41...

Thank you to the Mutations in Time and Space #MITS25 organisers (and fellow attendees!) for a fantastic few days of Dynamic, Exciting, and Interesting science and people @broadinstitute.org A great week with old friends and collaborators, and making new ones... See you again in 2026 💙

Yes! - we are hiring @yale.edu - links below...

🧩DNA Lesions Piece Together Impossible Trees🧩 This was a fun piece to write (and illustrate!) with Dr Claudia Arnedo Pac about @mikespencerchapman.bsky.social and co’s recent @nature.com paper. Thank you for the invitation, Maria @cp-trendsgenetics.bsky.social authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S...

🚨 Job alert! 🚨 The Chung Lab @ Yale seeks a motivated, creative postdoc to examine tissue remodeling in health and disease. We study ovarian aging and cardiovascular disease in human samples and animal models. Passionate about single-cell, spatial genomics, machine learning & therapeutics? Join us!

My lab at hiring! - we have TWO postdoc positions (one computational, one wet lab focussed) at Yale @yaleschoolofmed.bsky.social, working closely with our group members at University of Cambridge, UK @cambridgeuni.bsky.social Please help to spread the word! Adverts with full details below ⬇️

3/n 👨‍🔬 Postdoctoral Associate - Cancer Biology and Genomics 🧫 genome stability, 🔬 cancer biology, 🧬somatic mutations 🍕 full details: postdocs.yale.edu/postdoctoral... 🤝 lead and collaborate on multiple projects 🌎 based at CMCO, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven CT, USA 🗓️ apply now (rolling review)

2/n 👩‍💻 Postdoctoral Associate – Computational Cancer Biology 🧬 somatic mutations, genome stability, cancer biology 🎓 full details: postdocs.yale.edu/postdoctoral... 🙌 lead and collaborate on multiple projects 🌎 based at CMCO, Yale School of Medicine, New Haven CT, USA 🗓️ apply now (rolling review)

Excited to share our new preprint demonstrating somatic rescue mutations in a genetic liver disease! [1/12] www.nature.com/articles/s41...