Dr. Hugo Montémont

In April 2024, I have joined the Department of Applied Tumor Biology as a postdoctoral fellow, after obtaining my Doctorate in Cancer Genomics at Sorbonne University (Paris, France). During my PhD, I characterized the mutational and transcriptional landscape of both coding and non-coding microsatellite instability in the early development of MSI colorectal cancers (from early lesions as MMR-deficient crypts and adenoma to the adenocarcinoma). Notably, I have demonstrated the role of non-coding mutations in the alteration of RNA splicing, highlighting a specific MSI-driven signature that could initiate the MSI carcinogenesis and associated with early immune infiltration onset and cell dedifferentiation.

Based on my expertise on Lynch syndrome carcinogenesis, I am currently setting up a multi-omics approach to decipher early hereditary carcinogenesis and promote the development of personalized preventive medicine using Lynch syndrome as a well-established model (DECIPHER). This multidisciplinary project project combines theoretical and practical expertise in histopathology, immunology, genomics, and bioinformatics, and will provide us a better understanding of the events that drive tumor transformation and progression, ultimately equipping us with more effective prevention tools. Altogether, through DECIPHER, I am contributing to several projects notably to the NCI-funded CAP-IT U54 project aiming at developing next-generation cancer immunoprevention approaches.

I have been awarded a postdoctoral fellowship by the prestigious Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for the next two years.