معرفی
Jozef Madzo, Ph.D., serves as an Assistant Professor in the Genome Regulation and Cell Signaling Program at The Wistar Institute's Ellen and Ronald Caplan Cancer Center. He also holds the position of Scientific Director of the Bioinformatics Facility, which he began leading in July 2024. Dr. Madzo joined The Wistar Institute faculty as part of their strategic expansion of bioinformatics capabilities across advanced biomedical research programs.
Dr. Madzo's research focuses on computational biology approaches to cancer research, with particular emphasis on DNA methylation drift during normal aging, disease-driven inflammation, and neoplastic transformation. His lab investigates how epigenetic changes, particularly in DNA methylation patterns, influence cancer development and progression. Notably, his work has shown that cells exhibit changes in DNA methylation patterns during aging, and that diet and calorie restriction can slow down age- or inflammation-related DNA methylation drift. His research suggests cancer cells display similar DNA methylation drift, indicating cancer may represent accelerated aging.
Analysis of Dr. Madzo's publication record reveals a strong focus on the intersection of epigenetics, aging, and cancer. His work spans DNA methylation analysis, gut microbiome interactions with host epigenetics, and the role of epigenetic modifications in cancer development. Recent publications demonstrate increasing sophistication in multi-omics approaches, integrating RNAseq, ATACseq, and scRNA-seq data to uncover mechanisms of genetic and epigenetic regulation.
Dr. Madzo's laboratory utilizes advanced computational methods including permutation tests, multivariate analysis, and machine learning techniques such as random forest, XGBoost, and stochastic gradient descent. They work extensively with high-dimensional data from public repositories like TCGA, ENCODE, and GEO, applying both existing open-source bioinformatics tools and custom Python and R scripts.
