Daniel De Carvalho

Ten years ago, we discovered that reactivating transposable elements triggers an antiviral state in cancer cells, a process we named viral mimicry, unmasking tumors to the immune system (Roulois, Cell 2015). Now this idea finally reached patients with some impressive results:

✅A large pan-cancer study integrates cfDNA methylome + fragmentome to improve blood-based cancer detection built on 1,294 plasma samples. ✅Combining methylation profiling with fragmentomics strengthens liquid biopsy performance supporting more robust detection frameworks than either feature alone. ✅For the liquid biopsy community, this is another step toward standardized, scalable, multi-omic assays with clearer paths to clinical translation. 🔗 Read more: nature.com/articles/s4301… #ISLB #PrecisionOncology #ctDNA #EarlyDetection #Multiomics @UmbertoMalapel1 @ElJanLe @drgandara @MJOSESERRANO19 @ChristianRolfo @DrYukselUrun @RobertoBoreaMD @ErulEnes @ReduzziCarol @ddemiguelperez @PasqualePisapia @Al3ssandroRusso @ESaldanhaMD @eleonora_nicolo @DrMirallas @NatureCancer

Happy to contribute to this Q&A on transposable elements (TEs) in the dark genome, alongside Jef Boeke, Kathleen Burns, Maria Tokuyama, and Ting Wang

Our senior scientist Dr. Daniel De Carvalho (@decarvalho_lab), who discovered viral mimicry in cancer, is featured in a @NatureBiotech Q&A. He shares how transposable elements drive cancer and other diseases, emerging as powerful new therapeutic targets: nature.com/articles/s4158…

The most used multicancer early detection (MCED) blood test (liquid biopsy) uses methylation (GRAIL). But combining that with DNA fragmentomics, as reported today @NatureCancer, improves early detection nature.com/articles/s4301…

We are thrilled to have Daniel De Carvalho (@decarvalho_lab) from Princess Margaret Cancer Centre / University of Toronto as our Keynote speaker at #EREHD25. What a way to close 3 days of wonderful science. Thank you for being with us in Mexico Daniel!

@Mehdipour_lab @NatureCellBio Congrats Pari!!

@bradwouters @pmcancercentre @UHN @GairdnerAwards Thanks @bradwouters ! It wouldn’t be possible without all the support from @UHN @thePMCF @pmcancercentre and from you!

A huge congratulations to ⁦@pmcancercentre⁩ ⁦@UHN⁩ Daniel De Carvalho on receiving the ⁦@GairdnerAwards⁩ Peter Gilgan Momentum Award

@joao_p_almeida @gelarehzadeh Obrigado João!

@gelarehzadeh @decarvalho_lab Congratulations @decarvalho_lab ! Parabéns!!!

Congratulations and next step is #NobelPrize for @decarvalho_lab An outstanding #colleague too

@gelarehzadeh Thanks Gelareh! We miss you here in Toronto!

Dr. Daniel De Carvalho joins #ISLB25 as a speaker to showcase his research on cancer epigenetics and early detection. His lab at Princess Margaret develops methylation-based liquid biopsy tools and studies viral mimicry. Learn more: 2025.islb.info/meet-the-speak… @ChristianRolfo @ElJanLe @DrYukselUrun @UmbertoMalapel1 @drgandara @MJOSESERRANO19 #MeetTheSpeakers #CancerResearch #Epigenetics

Open for submissions! We are excited to announce the launch of our new collection: Viral Mimicry 🦠✨ Submit your latest research exploring how viruses imitate host processes to evade immunity and regulate infection. 🔗 biomedcentral.com/collections/VI… #CallForPapers #ViralMimicry

Sharing a paper below in @CellGenomics that took us literally 10 years+ (!) to write on the topics of 👇👇👇 * How, exactly, do we quantify viral mimicry - the expression of molecular features usually associated with nonself viruses by our own "self" cells? * Why do we see mimicry in so many disease settings such as cancer? * How broad a phenomena is this? * How do we think about selection in this evolutionary context? Trying to answer these questions required a theoretical framework at the intersection of physics, machine learning and evolutionary dynamics that our lab most enjoys - led by @petr_sulc, long-time collaborators at Ecole normale supérieure, and our lab at @MSKCancerCenter (Alexander Solovyov/ @stephen_martis / @sunsiyu1). It also required an amazing set of deep collaborations: @decarvalho_lab (whose work motivated a lot of our thinking) and John Lacava, who went all in for this work with their great labs and colleagues. I would usually write a summary but I will defer to the text this time and just express thanks for the interactions and experiences this work generated. Its been a gateway into a lot of great science that we are still unpacking 👇 👇👇 cell.com/cell-genomics/…

Check out our latest in @trendscancer where rockstar PhD student Laura Rosenberg reviews cancer therapies known to induce innate immune responses via the sensing of Transposable Elements. cell.com/trends/cancer/…

Excited to have this paper out today! Repeats mimic pathogen-associated patterns across a vast evolutionary landscape." It was a fun and productive collaboration with Benjamin Greenbaum, John LaCava, Simona Cocco, Petr Šulc and many others! cell.com/cell-genomics/…

Hear from 2025 Gairdner Momentum Award winner Dr. Daniel De Carvalho (@decarvalho_lab) @PMResearch_UHN on October 23 at @MaRSDD! Learn more about his impactful work in cancer epigenetics and his research journey here ➡️ uhnresearch.ca/news/gairdner-… #GairdnerAwards

Share in the thrill of discovery! Gairdner Science Week is back October 20-23. Join us for a week of groundbreaking science with the world's top experts and #GairdnerAwards winners. Full event lineup and registration → bit.ly/GairdnerScienc… #GSW2025

Are you currently in the ERE related field and want to find new collaborative opportunities? Join our Chairs @ChiappinelliLab, @shenhui1986, @twang5 & @paultaowu at the upcoming Endogenous Retrotransposable Elements & Human Diseases Conference this November! #EREHD25 🎙️Talk Submission extended to 03 Sept 2025 💰Final few $500 grants remaining for ECRs! Don't Miss out 👉bit.ly/4eRq9Mp

Don't forget to register for #EREHD25! Our talk submission deadline has been extended to 12 JUNE 2025, so submit your abstract today to join our incredible speaker line up in Mexico this November 🇲🇽 🔗bit.ly/4kHWbw0