Research
My current project focuses on somatic copy-number alterations (CNAs) in histologically normal human tissues. The aim is to build a pan-organ, single-cell atlas of how these alterations arise and accumulate across organs and with age. To do this, I analyse single-cell whole-genome data, and I apply methods such as ASCAT.sc to call CNAs in individual cells. Ultimately, I want to understand which clonal alterations are tolerated in healthy tissue and which mark the first steps towards cancer.
Alongside this, I am building computational tools to integrate the different data modalities measured per cell. I work closely with Maxime Tarabichi and Jonas Demeulemeester.
Biography
Hello! My name is Harry (Charalampos Anagnostakis), and I am a PhD student in a joint programme between the IRIBHM at ULB and the VIB–KU Leuven Laboratory of Integrative Cancer Genomics.
I trained as a pharmacist at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (Greece), where my integrated Master's thesis analysed genes involved in RNA editing in chronic lymphocytic leukaemia. That project pushed me towards computational biology. During my BSc I also generated monoclonal antibodies against CYLD using phage display, and I founded and led the wet- and dry-lab work of iGEM Thessaloniki 2021. Our team designed a non-invasive urine test for pancreatic cancer based on toehold switches that detect upregulated miRNAs, and it won a gold medal.
I then moved to KU Leuven for an MSc in Bioinformatics. My thesis, in Jonas Demeulemeester's lab, used long-read single-cell multiomics to study tumour heterogeneity and evolutionary dynamics in clear cell sarcoma. During the MSc I also co-developed OpenNano, an open-source Python package for analysing NanoString GeoMx spatial profiling data.
In November 2025 I started my joint PhD at ULB and KU Leuven.
Publications
No publications found.
