Somatic Evolution Monitoring Lab

Tech & Methods Development · Evolutionary Dynamics · Non‑invasive Biomarkers

Our aim

We study the dynamics and drivers of Darwinian evolution in competing somatic cells to understand, detect and prevent cancer initiation, progression, metastasis and drug resistance.

We are a multidisciplinary research group led by Dr Alex Frankell (Alexander M. Frankell) in the Early Cancer Institute at the University of Cambridge. Our tissues are populations of cells that mutate, compete and are selected throughout life: the same Darwinian process that, in a small fraction of cases, culminates in cancer.

We track this somatic evolution across space and time, using experimental and computational techniques to combine large longitudinal collections of non-invasive samples, detailed snapshots from tissue biopsies, and state-of-the-art genomic technologies with quantitative evolutionary models. Our aim is to measure high-risk evolution as it unfolds and to turn those measurements into biomarkers that can detect and prevent cancer earlier.

Our work is generously supported by the Wellcome Trust, Cancer Research UK, the Academy of Medical Sciences, the Cowan Foundation, Downing College and the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Centre.

Research themes

What we work on

Longitudinal, non-invasive tracking

Holistically tracking the longitudinal dynamics of somatic evolution using non-invasive samples such as circulating tumour DNA, so cancer clones can be followed over space and time.

Somatic evolution & carcinogenesis

Understanding somatic evolution and carcinogenesis from detailed snapshots of tissue biopsies — reconstructing how competing clones initiate, progress and metastasise.

Clinical biomarkers

Developing clinical biomarkers to predict and detect high-risk somatic evolution, translating evolutionary measurements into tools for early detection and prevention.

The SEM Lab research group — **The Somatic Evolution Monitoring Lab.**

Selected work

Selected publications

2026
Harnessing genomics for early cancer detection, risk stratification and prevention
M. Gu, W. Z. Zhang, R. C. Fitzgerald, A. M. Frankell*, G. S. Vassiliou (*joint corresponding author)
Nature Genetics, 58(4), 704–716
2025
Longitudinal ultrasensitive ctDNA monitoring for high-resolution lung cancer risk prediction
J. R. M. Black, … A. M. Frankell*, C. Swanton (*joint senior author)
Cell, 188(25), 7083–7098
2025
Ultrasensitive ctDNA detection for preoperative disease stratification in early-stage lung adenocarcinoma
J. R. M. Black, … M. Jamal-Hanjani, A. M. Frankell*, C. Swanton (*joint senior author)
Nature Medicine, 31(1), 70–76
2023
The evolution of lung cancer and impact of subclonal selection in TRACERx
A. M. Frankell*, M. Dietzen, M. Al Bakir, … C. Swanton (*joint first author)
Nature, 616, 525–533