PhD defence by Lukas Balsevicius

Single cell multiomics based biomarker discovery in colon cancer

Assessment Committee:
Professor Niels Ødum, Department of Immunology and Microbiology, University of Copenhagen (Chairperson)
Professor Sine Reker Hadrup, Technical University of Denmark
Associate professor Frederick Koh, Duke-NUS Medical University; Sengkang General Hospital; National University Cancer Institute

Supervisors:
Clinical Professor Ismail Gögenur
Professor Thomas Wojciech Zygmunt Litman

Department:
Department of Clinical Medicine

Graduate Programme:
Surgical Sciences

Place:
Panum, Room: Adolf Hannover Auditorium, Blegdamsvej 3B, 2200 København

Email address to gain access to the thesis: lukas.balsevicius@gmail.com 
You will either receive a copy of the thesis or be informed where you can read a physical copy.

Short description of the thesis:
The human intestine is one of the body’s most immune active and diverse organs, but when colon cancer develops, it can hijack and reshape this environment in ways that support tumour growth. This PhD explores how the immune environment in colon cancer changes during treatment and why only a fraction of patients benefit from immunotherapy. Using advanced single cell sequencing technologies, the thesis maps thousands of individual cells from patient tumour samples and identifies immune cell states linked to either response or resistance. The work also optimizes a practical workflow for bringing these methods into clinical studies. Together, the findings contribute to a better understanding of colon cancer biology and support the development of safer and more personalised immunotherapy.