CV
Univ. Prof. Dr. med. Roman K. Thomas
Academic education
1994 - 2001: Medical School, University of Cologne
Scientific degrees
04/2008: Habilitation in Experimental Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Cologne
06/2002: M.D., Medical School, University of Cologne, Magna cum Laude: “Detektion von Allelverlusten und molekulare Analyse von zellzyklus-regulierenden Genen und Tumorsuppressorgenen in Hodgkin Reed-Sternberg Zellen” (Supervisor: Jürgen Wolf, M.D., Department I for Internal Medicine, University of Cologne, Head: Volker Diehl, M.D.)
06/2001: Graduation from Medical School, University of Cologne, Summa cum Laude
Scientific career
2017: CMMC associate member (Center for Molecular Medicine Cologne)
2015: DKTK fellow (German Cancer Consortium), German Cancer Research Center (DKFZ)
07/12: Founder of Blackfield/ New Oncology AG, acquired by Siemens Healthcare in March 2016
2012 - present: W3 full professorship, Head of the Department of Translational Genomics, University of Cologne
2006 - 11/2012: Independent group leader in the Max Planck Institute for Neurological Research (associated member of the task force “Lung cancer” of the Center for Integrated Oncology and the Department I for Internal Medicine, University of Cologne)
2004 - 2006: Postdoctoral fellow, The Broad Institute of M.I.T. and Harvard & Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Harvard Medical School, Cambridge Massachusetts (Group of Professor Matthew Meyerson, M.D., PhD)
2003 - 2004: Postdoctoral fellow, Department I for Internal Medicine and Center for Molecular Medicine (Group of Professor Dr. Jürgen Wolf)
2001 - 2002: Clinical residency (A.i.P.), Department I for Internal Medicine, University of Cologne, Medical Oncology/ Hematology
Honors/ Awards/ Memberships
2017: Max-Delbrück-Preis der Universität zu Köln
2014: Walter und Christine Richtzenhain-Preis, Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum
2014: Glaxo Smith Kline Scientific Award for Clinical Research 2014, GlaxoSmithKline Stiftung Deutschland
2013: Deutscher Krebspreis (German Cancer Award) 2013– Deutsche Krebsgesellschaft
2013: Coordinator of the system medicine Consortium “SMOOSE” in the e:Med program of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF)
2012: Coordinator of a large-scale cancer sequencing consortium “Comprehensive molecular and histopathological characterization of small-cell lung cancer” funded by the German Cancer Aid (Deutsche Krebshilfe), which is part of the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC)
2012: Coordinator of the joint research project PerMed funded by the German federal state NRW and the European Union (European Regional Development Fund: Investing in Your Future)
2008: Coordinator of the medical Genome Research Network “Oncogene dependencies” in the NGFNplus program of the Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF)
2007: Young Investigator Award of IASLC
2006: Stipend of the International Association for the Study of Lung Cancer (IASLC)
2006: Fellow in Training Award of the American Association for Cancer Research
2005: Mildred-Scheel stipend of the German Cancer Aid
10 most relevant publications
- George J, Walter V, Peifer M, Alexandrov LB, Seidel D, Leenders F, Maas L, Müller C, Dahmen I, Delhomme TM, Ardin M, Leblay N, Byrnes G, Sun R, De Reynies A, McLeer-Florin A, Bosco G, Malchers F, Menon R, Altmüller J, Becker C, Nürnberg P, Achter V, Lang U, Schneider PM, Bogus M, Soloway MG, Wilkerson MD, Cun Y, McKay JD, Moro-Sibilot D, Brambilla CG, Lantuejoul S, Lemaitre N, Soltermann A, Weder W, Tischler V, Brustugun OT, Lund-Iversen M, Helland Å, Solberg S, Ansén S, Wright G, Solomon B, Roz L, Pastorino U, Petersen I, Clement JH, Sänger J, Wolf J, Vingron M, Zander T, Perner S, Travis WD, Haas SA, Olivier M, Foll M, Büttner R, Hayes DN, Brambilla E, Fernandez-Cuesta L, Thomas RK. Integrative genomic profiling of large-cell neuroendocrine carcinomas reveals distinct subtypes of high-grade neuroendocrine lung tumors. Nat Commun. 2018 Mar 13;9(1):1048
- Drapkin BJ, George J, Christensen CL, Mino-Kenudson M, Dries R, Sundaresan T, Phat S, Myers DT, Zhong J, Igo P, Hazar-Rethinam MH, Licausi JA, Gomez-Caraballo M, Kem M, Jani KN, Azimi R, Abedpour N, Menon R, Lakis S, Heist RS, Büttner R, Haas S, Sequist LV, Shaw AT, Wong KK, Hata AN, Toner M, Maheswaran S, Haber DA, Peifer M, Dyson N, Thomas RK, Farago AF. Genomic and Functional Fidelity of Small Cell Lung Cancer Patient-Derived Xenografts. Cancer Discov. 2018 May;8(5):600-615
- Peifer M, Hertwig F, Roels F, Dreidax D, Gartlgruber M, Menon R, Krämer A, Roncaioli JL, Sand F, Heuckmann JM, Ikram F, Schmidt R, Ackermann S, Engesser A, Kahlert Y, Vogel W, Altmüller J, Nürnberg P, Thierry-Mieg J, Thierry-Mieg D, Mariappan A, Heynck S, Mariotti E, Henrich KO, Glöckner C, Bosco G, Leuschner I, Schweiger MR, Savelyeva L, Watkins SC, Shao C, Bell E, Höfer T, Achter V, Lang U, Theissen J, Volland R, Saadati M, Eggert A, de Wilde B, Berthold F, Peng Z, Zhao C, Shi L, Ortmann M, Büttner R, Perner S, Hero B, Schramm A, Schulte JH, Herrmann C, O'Sullivan RJ, Westermann F, Thomas RK, Fischer M. (co-corresponding author). Telomerase activation by genomic rearrangements in high-risk neuroblastoma. Nature. 2015 Oct 14. doi: 10.1038/nature14980.
- George J, Lim JS, Jang SJ, Cun Y, Ozretic L, Kong G, Leenders F, Lu X, Fernández-Cuesta L, Bosco G, Müller C, Dahmen I, Jahchan NS, Park KS, Yang D, Karnezis AN, Vaka D, Torres A, Wang MS, Korbel JO, Menon R, Chun SM, Kim D, Wilkerson M, Hayes N, Engelmann D, Pützer P, Bos M, Michels S, Vlasic I, Seidel D, Pinther B, Schaub P, Becker C, Janine Altmüller J, Yokota J, Kohno T, Iwakawa R, Tsuta K, Noguchi M, Muley T, Hoffmann H, Schnabel PA, Petersen I, Yuan Chen Y, Soltermann A, Tischler V, Choi CM, Kim YH, Massion PP, Zou Y, Jovanovic D, Kontic M, Wright GM, Russell PA, Solomon B, Koch I, Lindner M, Muscarella LA, la Torre A, Field JK, Jakopovic M, Knezevic J, Castaños-Vélez E, Roz L, Pastorino U, Brustugun OT, Lund-Iversen M, Thunnissen E, Köhler K, Schuler M, Botling J, Sandelin M, Sanchez-Cespedes M, Salvesen HB, Achter V, Ulrich Lang U, Bogus M, Schneider PM, Zander T, Ansén S, Hallek M, Wolf J, Vingron M, Yatabe Y, Travis WD, Nürnberg P, Reinhardt C, Perner S, Heukamp L, Büttner R, Haas SA, Brambilla E, Peifer M, Sage J, Thomas RK. Comprehensive genomic profiles of small cell lung cancer. Nature. 2015 Aug 6;524(7563):47-53.
- Fernandez-Cuesta L, Peifer M, Lu X, Sun R, Ozretić L, Seidel D, Zander T, Leenders F, George J, Müller C, Dahmen I, Pinther B, Bosco G, Konrad K, Altmüller J, Nürnberg P, Achter V, Lang U, Schneider PM, Bogus M, Soltermann A, Brustugun OT, Helland Å, Solberg S, Lund-Iversen M, Ansén S, Stoelben E, Wright GM, Russell P, Wainer Z, Solomon B, Field JK, Hyde R, Davies MP, Heukamp LC, Petersen I, Perner S, Lovly CM, Cappuzzo F, Travis WD, Wolf J, Vingron M, Brambilla E, Haas SA, Buettner R, Thomas RK. Frequent mutations in chromatin-remodelling genes in pulmonary carcinoids. Nat Commun. 2014 Mar 27;5:3518.
- Fernandez-Cuesta L, Plenker D, Osada H, Sun R, Menon R, Leenders F, Ortiz-Cuaran S, Peifer M, Bos M, Dabler J, Malchers F, Schottle J, Vogel W, Dahmen I, Koker M, Ullrich RT, Wright GM, Russell PA, Wainer Z, Solomon B, Brambilla E, Nagy-Mignotte H, Moro-Sibilot D, Brambilla CG, Lantuejoul S, Altmuller J, Becker C, Nurnberg P, Heuckmann JM, Stoelben E, Petersen I, Clement JH, Sanger J, Muscarella LA, la Torre A, Fazio VM, Lahortiga I, Perera T, Ogata S, Parade M, Brehmer D, Vingron M, Heukamp LC, Buettner R, Zander T, Wolf J, Perner S, Ansen S, Haas SA, Yatabe Y, Thomas RK. CD74-NRG1 fusions in lung adenocarcinoma. Cancer Discov. 2014 Apr;4(4):415-22.
- Clinical Lung Cancer Genome Project (CLCGP) and Network Genomic Medicine (NGM). Thomas RK (last author). A genomics based classification of Human lung tumors. Sci Tranl Med. 2013 Oct 30; 5(209): 209ra153
- Peifer M, Fernández-Cuesta L, Sos ML, George J, Seidel D, Kasper LH, Plenker D, Leenders F, Sun R, Zander T, Menon R, Koker M, Dahmen I, Müller C, Di Cerbo V, Schildhaus HU, Altmüller J, Baessmann I, Becker C, de Wilde B, Vandesompele J, Böhm D, Ansén S, Gabler F, Wilkening I, Heynck S, Heuckmann JM, Lu X, Carter SL, Cibulskis K, Banerji S, Getz G, Park KS, Rauh D, Grütter C, Fischer M, Pasqualucci L, Wright G, Wainer Z, Russell P, Petersen I, Chen Y, Stoelben E, Ludwig C, Schnabel P, Hoffmann H, Muley T, Brockmann M, Engel-Riedel W, Muscarella LA, Fazio VM, Groen H, Timens W, Sietsma H, Thunnissen E, Smit E, Heideman DA, Snijders PJ, Cappuzzo F, Ligorio C, Damiani S, Field J, Solberg S, Brustugun OT, Lund-Iversen M, Sänger J, Clement JH, Soltermann A, Moch H, Weder W, Solomon B, Soria JC, Validire P, Besse B, Brambilla E, Brambilla C, Lantuejoul S, Lorimier P, Schneider PM, Hallek M, Pao W, Meyerson M, Sage J, Shendure J, Schneider R, Büttner R, Wolf J, Nürnberg P, Perner S, Heukamp LC, Brindle PK, Haas S, and Thomas RK. Integrative genome analyses identify key somatic driver mutations of small-cell lung cancer. Nat Genet. 2012 Oct;44(10):1104-10.
- Sos ML, Dietlein F, Peifer M, Schöttle J, Balke-Want H, Müller C, Koker M, Richters A, Heynck S, Malchers F, Heuckmann JM, Seidel D, Eyers PA, Ullrich RT, Antonchick AP, Vintonyak VV, Schneider PM, Ninomiya T, Waldmann H, Büttner R, Rauh D, Heukamp LC, and Thomas RK. A framework for identification of actionable cancer genome dependencies in small cell lung cancer. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA. 2012 Oct 16;109(42):17034-9
- 10.Thomas RK, Baker AC, DeBiasi RM, Winckler W, LaFramboise T, Lin WM, Feng W, Wang M, MacConnaill LE, Lee JC, Nicoletti R, Hatton C, Goyette M, Girard L, Majmudar K, Ziaugra L, Wong KK, Gabriel S, Beroukhim R, Peyton M, Barretina J, Dutt A, Emery C, Greulich H, Shah K, Sasaki H, Gazdar AF, Minna J, Armstrong SA, Mellinghoff IK, Hodi FS, Dranoff G, Mischel PS, Cloughesy TF, Nelson SF, Liau LM, Mertz K, Rubin MA, Moch H, Loda M, Catalona W, Fletcher J, Signoretti S, Kaye F, Anderson KC, Demetri GD, Dummer R, Wagner S, Herlyn M, Sellers WR, Meyerson M and Garraway LA. High-throughput oncogene mutation profiling in human cancer. Nat Genet, 2007 Mar;39(3):347-351.
Patents
- Susceptibility to HSP90-inhibitors (P2123 EP S3)
- Novel fusion genes in lung cancer (WO 2015/018918 A1)
Contact Information
Univ. Prof. Dr. med. Roman K. Thomas
Professor (W3) and Director of the Department of Translational Genomics
University of Cologne
Department of Translational Genomics
