Dr. Mathieu Lupien

Investigator II

Dr. Mathieu Lupien is a Senior scientist at the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre and holds a cross-appointment with OICR.

Lupien’s research highlights the need to characterize the epigenetic basis of cancer to understand the role of the noncoding cancer genome and identify new therapeutic opportunities and complementary markers of response.

Lupien is recognized for three seminal discoveries:

1. Epigenetic modifications on histones can discriminate cell-type-specific-noncoding gene regulatory elements in normal and cancer cells.
2. Epigenetic alterations at gene regulatory elements underlie cancer initiation and progression.
3. Noncoding genetic alterations promoting cancer development preferentially target gene regulatory elements.

Lupien’s research is centered on identifying the epigenetic changes in cancer cells and to reveal their underlying molecular biology. The ultimate goal is to develop new and improved strategies to hinder cancer development.

Current affiliations

• Investigator II, OICR
• Associate Professor, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto
• Senior scientist, Princess Margaret Cancer Centre

Research interests

• Epigenomics
• Chromatin architecture
• Genetics of cancer
• Bioinformatics
• Computational science
• Transcriptional regulation
• Breast cancer
• Prostate cancer
• Cancer stem cells

Select publications

• Lan X, Jörg DJ, Cavalli FMG, …, Lupien M, …, Dirks PB. Fate mapping of human glioblastoma reveals an invariant stem cell hierarchy. Nature. 2017; 549(7671):227-232.
• Park NI, Guilhamon P, Desai K, …, Lupien M, Dirks PB. ASCL1 Reorganizes Chromatin to Direct Neuronal Fate and Suppress Tumorigenicity of Glioblastoma Stem Cells. Cell Stem Cell. 2017; 21(3):411.
• Kron KJ, Murison A, Zhou S, …, Lupien M. TMPRSS2-ERG fusion co-opts master transcription factors and activates NOTCH signaling in primary prostate cancer. Nat Genet. 2017; 49:1336-45.
• Zhou S, Treloar AE, Lupien M. Emergence of the noncoding cancer genome: A target of genetic and epigenetic alterations. Cancer Discov. 2016; 6(11):1215-1229.
• Bailey SD, Desai K, Kron KJ, …, Lupien M. Noncoding somatic and inherited single-nucleotide variants converge to promote ESR1 expression in breast cancer. Nat Genet. 2016; 48(10):1260-6.
• Gallo M, Coutinho FJ, Vanner RJ, …, Lupien M, Dirks PB. MLL5 Orchestrates a Cancer Self-Renewal State by Repressing the Histone Variant H3.3 and Globally Reorganizing Chromatin. Cancer Cell. 2015; 28(6):715-729.
• Mack SC, Witt H, Piro RM, …, Lupien M, …, Taylor MD. Epigenomic alterations define lethal CIMP-positive ependymomas of infancy. Nature. 2014; 506(7489):445-50.
• Cowper-Sal lari R, Zhang X, Wright JB, …, Lupien M. Breast cancer risk-associated SNPs modulate the affinity of chromatin for FOXA1 and alter gene expression. Nat Genet. 2012; 44(11):1191-8.

See Dr. Lupien’s recent publications on PubMed or on Google Scholar.

Tools

• Cross Cell-type Correlation in DNA accessibility (C3D):
  https://github.com/mlupien/C3D
• Variant Set Enrichment (VSE):
  https://github.com/mlupien/VSE
• Allele-specific Bias in Binding from ChIP-seq (ABC):
  https://github.com/mlupien/ABC
• Intra-Genomic Replicates (IGR):
  https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23001124

Awards

• Till and McCulloch Discovery of the Year (Basic) Award, 2012, 2017
• Rising Star in Prostate Cancer Research Award, 2014
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research, New Investigator Salary Award, 2014
• OICR Investigator Level I Award, 2012

Previous experience

• Scientist, The Princess Margaret Cancer Centre
• Assistant Professor, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto
• Director, Quantitative Epigenomics Laboratory, Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Sciences, Dartmouth Medical School
• Assistant Professor, Department of Genetics, Dartmouth Medical School, Norris Cotton Cancer Center

Related links

Lupien Lab website

Opportunities to collaborate

To collaborate with Dr. Lupien, please contact him directly.

Visit OICR’s Collaborative Research Resources directory for more opportunities to collaborate with OICR researchers.

Contact

Dr. Mathieu Lupien
mlupien@uhnres.utoronto.ca