Benjamin Werner

Dr. Benjamin Werner serves as a Reader in Somatic Evolution and Group Leader at the Centre for Cancer Evolution, where he leads interdisciplinary research at the intersection of mathematics, genomics, and cancer biology. His work focuses on deciphering tumor evolutionary histories through computational modeling and genomic analysis.

His primary research interests encompass cancer evolution, somatic genomics, and mathematical biology, with specific emphasis on quantifying evolutionary dynamics in individual tumors. Werner's group develops computational frameworks to interpret genomic data, investigating how mutational processes shape tumor progression and treatment resistance across diverse cancer types.

Analysis of his publication record reveals a consistent trajectory toward modeling extrachromosomal DNA dynamics, neutral evolution patterns, and longitudinal tumor monitoring through liquid biopsies. His work increasingly integrates multi-region sequencing and single-cell methodologies to reconstruct phylogenetic trees and predict therapeutic outcomes.

Dr. Werner has secured major competitive funding including a £1.4M UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship (2022-2026) for studying extrachromosomal DNA evolution, a £660,000 Cancer Research UK/NCI Cancer Grand Challenge award, and grants from the Human Frontier Science Program and European Research Council supporting collaborative networks in evolutionary cancer research.

He leads the Somatic Evolution research group within the Centre for Cancer Evolution, fostering collaborations between mathematicians, computational biologists, and cancer clinicians to develop quantitative approaches for evolutionary oncology.