Research

Selected relevant ongoing research projects are detailed below:

• Creating Tissue Banking Ecosystem with interlinking clinical, in vivo, in vitro and in silico resources

I lead the IT for the Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Tissue Bank (PCRFTB) and the bioinformatics for both the PCRFTB and the Breast Cancer Now Tissue Bank (BCNTB). The platforms that we develop bring together the largest collection of multi-dimensional cancer data and allow users to analyse a broad range of specimen/experimental types, including healthy/patient tissue and body fluid specimens, cell lines and murine models as well as related treatments/drugs data. Ultimately, the aim is to provide the cancer research community with the means to harness the clinical data and molecular findings and create virtual patient models. 

• Innovative translational bioinformatics for a better understanding of the role of genetic variations to prioritise clinically relevant ones facilitating the promise of precision medicine

My group has a lead in this development by designing SNPnexus to address the data analysis challenge (www.snp-nexus.org). SNPnexus is a powerful platform for understanding a phenotype at a molecular level. SNPnexus has a constantly growing, national and international user community.

• Comprehensive analysis of morphologically normal tissue resected proximal and distant from breast primary tumour

We use next-generation sequencing/proteomics analysis to understand the molecular subtypes within matched adjacent normal samples and investigate their distinct prognostic and therapeutic capabilities. 

• Tracking clonal evolution in pancreatic cancer using sequential non invasive liquid biopsies. 

We use next-generation sequencing of matched germline, tumour and serial circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) samples to explore the clonal evolution of pancreatic cancer, and isolate markers of disease progression, treatment response and acquired resistance. 

• Computational/integrative cancer bioinformatics and biomarker discovery

My team has developed several analytical pipelines, directly applicable to patient data, and the study of the transcriptional/mutational landscapes and evolutionary dynamics of different cancer types to identify therapeutic targets and prognostic biomarkers. 

Other Activities

• Co-Lead, Barts Life Sciences Precision Medicine Programme (QMUL)
• Chair, FMD Research Information Governance Group (QMUL)
• Barts Life Sciences (Barts Health NHS Trust, QMUL) Precision Medicine Programme Board
• Genomics England Research Network Committee
• Breast Cancer Now Tissue Bank Advisory Committee
• Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Tissue Bank Operational Group
• CRIS Cancer Foundation International Scientific Committee
• AIRC Foundation for Cancer Research International Scientific Committee
• Cancer Research UK Early Detection and Diagnosis Committee

Panel membership:

• Medical Research Council, Methodology Research
• Medical Research Council, Capacity and Skills
• UKRI, Future Leaders Fellowships
• EPSRC, Hubs for Mathematical Sciences in Healthcare
• European Commission, Innovative Medicines Initiative
• European Commission, Horizon 2020
• Research Council of Norway, Health Sciences and Biology
• Academy of Finland R'Life 

Major Funding

• 2021-26 - EU Integrative Medicine Initiative: Optimal treatment for patients with solid tumours in Europe through Artificial intelligence, Co-I (PI for QMUL), £21M £400K/QMUL
• 2021-26 - Barts Charity: Precision Medicine - Unlocking the longitudinal Electronic Health Record phenotype from multi-dimensional data, Co-PI, £5.7M
• 2015-27 - Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund: Pancreatic Cancer Research Fund Tissue bank, Co-PI, £2.4M
• 2019-24 - Breast Cancer Now: Breast Cancer Now Tissue bank, Co-PI , £3.9M
• 2024-29 - Breast Cancer Now: Breast Cancer Now Tissue bank, Co-PI , £4.5M
• 2018-24 - Chanel Parfums Beauté: Skin aging Platform, PI, £738K

Recent Publications

Multimorbidity in people living with and beyond cancer: a scoping review. Ahmad TA, Gopal DP, Chelala C et al. American Journal of Cancer Research 13(10) 4346-4365

Personalized neoantigen viro-immunotherapy platform for triple-negative breast cancer Baleeiro RB, Liu P, Dunmall LSC et al. Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer (2023) 11(10) e007336

Desestruturação da produção de soja na fronteira amazônica: o caso do estado do Amapá Pires MAF, Chelala CMDSCF, Chelala CA Revista de Gestão e Secretariado (Management and Administrative Professional Review) 14(10) 9700-9716

Chairwomen: Diagnostic studies for pancreatic cancer Chelala C, Costello-Goldring E Pancreatology (2023) 23(10) e2

Correction: A role for macrophages under cytokine control in mediating resistance to ADI-PEG20 (pegargiminase) in ASS1-deficient mesothelioma Phillips MM, Pavlyk I, Allen M et al. Pharmacological Reports (2023) 75(10) 753-753

AGRONEGÓCIOS E MUDANÇAS CLIMÁTICAS: REFLEXÕES SOBRE OS CONFLITOS SOCIOAMBIENTAIS BRASILEIROS Chelala CMDSCF, Chelala CA Terceira Margem Amazônia 8(10) 35-55

541 Gene set enrichment analysis identifies biological networks associated with skin aging in a large Japanese population: Data from the Nagahama cohort Latreille J, Thorn G, Jdid R et al. Journal of Investigative Dermatology (2023) 143(10) s93

902 Development of a web-based platform to facilitate research to uncover the skin ageing mechanism Oscanoa J, Latreille J, Le Clerc S et al. Journal of Investigative Dermatology (2023) 143(10) s154

A role for macrophages under cytokine control in mediating resistance to ADI-PEG20 (pegargiminase) in ASS1-deficient mesothelioma Phillips MM, Pavlyk I, Allen M et al. Pharmacological Reports (2023) 75(10) 570-584

Dynamic Biobanking for Advancing Breast Cancer Research Abdollahyan M, Gadaleta E, Asif M et al. Journal of Personalized Medicine 13(10) 360

Team

Biography

In 2002, I was awarded a PhD in Computational Biology/Radiation Biology from Paris-Sud University/Curie Institute and a degree in Structural Bioinformatics from Paris Descartes University. My first post-doctoral experience at the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS) involved the development of novel tools to gather information for automated analysis of genome maps and distribution study of the disease-related genes.

In 2004, I joined the Pasteur Institute in Paris to work on large-scale analysis of genetic variation, integration with clinical data and the association with type 1 diabetes. I worked on developing tools to transfer, integrate and analyse the genetic, genomic and proteomic data. My later studies have centred on cancer research.

In 2006, I joined Barts Cancer Institute (BCI) driven by a high motivation to translate my work from a substantial basic/computational research platform into a translational/patient setting. I established an interdisciplinary research team with complementary expertise in translational bioinformatics, clinical informatics, computer science, molecular biology, databases and software engineering. My research is very collaborative with clinical and basic scientists at the Barts & The London School of Medicine (SMD) and Barts Health. 

My most challenging, and most rewarding, role is being a mother of two young boys. Not surprisingly, I am very passionate about communicating my love of data science to young children. With the help of my team, we have engaged with primary school children to encourage interest in data science and ultimately inspire the next generation of health data researchers.