Dr Florent Petitprez

Research Fellow

Biography

Background

I am a computational biologist with interests in studying the interplay between the immune system and cancer. Following studies in bioinformatics at Ecole polytechnique and biotechnology at AgroParisTech, I pursued a PhD at the Cordeliers Research Centre in Paris. During my PhD, I developed methods to accurately characterise immune infiltrates in tumours from bulk transcriptomics and I applied them to study the tumour microenvironment of different cancer types. With the group, we demonstrated the role of B cells and Tertiary Lymphoid Structures in favouring patients survival and response to immunotherapy. After a first postdoctoral position at the French League Against Cancer, I moved to the University of Edinburgh in 2020 to join the group of Professor Jeffrey Pollard, studying the phenotype and role of tumour-associated macrophages in various cancer types. I obtained in 2022 a Wellcome Early Career Award that allows me to study the role of macrophages in tertiary lymphoid structures in breast, ovarian and endometrial cancers, notably using spatially-resolved transcriptomics technologies.

Research summary

My research interests focus on understanding how the composition and organisation of the tumour microenvironments - i.e. what cells, notably immune cells, are present in a tumour and how they are organised - affect the disease progression, the clinical outcome for patients, or can inform therapeutic decisions. In particular, I focus on understanding the functioning and impact of tertiary lymphoid structures, lymph-node like cell aggregates found in some tumours that are often associated with a longer survival and better response to immunotherapies. I also develop methodological approaches on how best to analyse and understand the microenvironments compositions using gene expression data - notably spatial transcriptomics.

Current project grants

Wellcome Trust - Early Career Award (2022 - 2027)

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