Dr Jyoti Nangalia

Group Leader

Jyoti is a Group Leader in the Cancer, Ageing and Somatic Mutation Programme at the Sanger. Her group studies somatic mutation patterns, methylation changes and clonal selection over life, and how these alter during ageing and cancer. Her earlier work focussed on the genetics of blood cancer, identifying CALR mutations, and integrating genomics to personalise predictions of disease outcome for patients.

Research areas

The Nangalia lab is currently investigating

Clonal trajectories to cancers. We are exploring when different types of cancers commence their growth during the lifetime of patients. Studying the somatic mutation phylogenies, selection landscape and clonal evolutionary dynamics across haematological diseases and cancers will better inform effective early intervention strategies.

Methylation dynamics in the human body. We are studying how the methylome changes over the human lifespan in healthy and diseased tissues using a phylogenetic approach.

Cancer avoidance. We are studying how most cells avoid cancer despite inherited or environmental predisposition. Discovering these mechanisms could help identify new ways of protecting vulnerable cells and targeting malignant clones.

Personalised cancer modelling. We continue to enhance our blood cancer prognostic tools and build further predictive models for other cancers.

Jyoti's career

Jyoti studied Medicine at Cambridge University (St John’s College), and subsequently trained as a Haematologist. She undertook a PhD at the University of Cambridge and Sanger Institute where she developed a passion for genomics. During her PhD, she discovered CALR mutations in the vast majority of patients with JAK2 unmutated myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPN). Testing for CALR mutations in clinical practice is now routine and in international WHO guidelines.

Utilising cancer genetics to support clinical decision-making is a critical application of genetic sequencing technologies, and following her PhD, she worked on the development of an accurate online personalised predictor of prognosis for patients with blood cancer by integrating clinical and genomic parameters.

In 2017, she became a Cancer Research UK Clinicial Scientist and started a group at the Sanger Institute, initially focussing on studying the trajectories to blood cancer. In 2020, she became a Principal Investigator at the Wellcome-MRC Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. She is now a Group Leader within the Cancer, Ageing and Somatic Mutation Programme at the Sanger.

She is also a Consultant Haematologist and treats patients with chronic myeloid malignancies at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. Her team leads the molecular analysis of clinical trials for patients with myeloproliferative neoplasms and contribute to national guidelines for the diagnosis and management of patients with blood cancers.

Find out more about our research at Nangalia.org.

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