Tumor Evolution and Phylogeny

Cancer arises through the gradual accumulation of somatic alterations within epithelial tissues. Yet tumorigenesis is not solely a process of cell-intrinsic genetic change. It unfolds within a dynamic tissue ecosystem in which immune surveillance, inflammation, and microenvironmental signals continuously shape clonal expansion and elimination. While both epithelial evolution and tumor–immune interactions have been studied intensively, they are rarely reconstructed jointly across the full trajectory from normal tissue to invasive cancer. As a result, we lack a quantitative understanding of how phases of epithelial expansion coincide with distinct immune contexts, and how their joint dynamics influence cancer risk and progression.

H2CE addresses this gap by integrating high-resolution reconstruction of epithelial lineage relationships and proliferative history with comprehensive immune profiling. Building on complementary expertise at Harvard Medical School and Heidelberg University Hospital, we establish a transatlantic platform capable of jointly decoding epithelial–immune co-evolution in human tissues.