Peter Van Loo

Peter Van Loo is a Professor at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, holding primary appointments in the Department of Genetics within the Division of Discovery Science and the Department of Genomic Medicine, with additional status as Visiting Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute in London. Previously, he served as Winton Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute until his 2023 transition to MD Anderson and as Group Leader at Cancer Research UK's London Research Institute.

His educational trajectory includes a PhD in Medical Sciences from the University of Leuven (2008), followed by postdoctoral training at the University of Oslo's Institute for Cancer Research and the Wellcome Sanger Institute.

Dr. Van Loo pioneered "molecular archeology of cancer," developing computational frameworks to analyze tumor evolution, copy-number alterations, and subclonal architecture through whole-genome sequencing. His research has mapped evolutionary trajectories across cancer types, revealing developmental timelines and metastatic mechanisms. As lead of the Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (PCAWG) Evolution and Heterogeneity working group and genomics lead for the Sarcoma arm of the 100,000 Genomes Project, his work bridges computational innovation with clinical oncology.

His accolades include:

• Cancer Research UK Future Leaders in Cancer Research Prize (2015)
• VIB Alumni Award (2017)
• UT STARs award (2022)

As a CPRIT scholar, Dr. Van Loo directs substantial research funding through consortium leadership in PCAWG and the 100,000 Genomes Project, mentoring teams in cancer genomics. His laboratory at MD Anderson continues advancing tumor evolution modeling and genomic analysis methodologies.