Professor Phil Jones

I am Professor of Cancer Development at the University of Cambridge and a Senior Group Leader at the Wellcome Sanger Institute.  We investigate how to prevent mutant cells in our normal tissues turning into cancer. I am also a Consultant in Medical Oncology at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge, treating patients with keratinocyte skin cancers.

Research focus

Our group studies how normal cell behaviour is altered by mutation in ageing and the earliest stages of cancer development. We focus on normal skin epidermis and the lining of the oesophagus, both of which acquire a high burden of mutations by middle age. Our approach combines deep sequencing of normal human tissues, transgenic mouse models, novel 3D culture methods, CRISPR based functional screens, live imaging, and quantitative modelling. We have discovered that normal tissues are extensively colonised by mutant cells, which compete in a process of Darwinian selection. Some mutations increase cancer risk while others decrease it. We are now researching how to redirect evolutionary selection to reduce the burden of the most deleterious mutations and how normal tissue mutations vary between the UK and other countries with different cancer incidence.

We focus on three key areas:

• Normal tissue mutational landscapes and their relationship with cancer incidence.
• How mutant cells are selected in normal tissues
• Redirecting somatic evolution to cut cancer risk