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CDH2026
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Welcome!

The Cancer Discovery Hub (CDH) is a one-stop pan-omics diagnostic and research core laboratory housed at the National Cancer Centre Singapore. We specialise in state-of-the-art research-grade technologies and provide expert support to investigators on all cancer related projects.

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Latest news

Key events and achievements

  • 06 Feb 2026: Collaboration research agreement with Lucence and Dxd Hub 

  • 10 Nov 2025 : Collaborative research agreement with 10X Genomics

  • 08 July 2025 : Collaborative research agreement with Remission Biotech

  • 25 April 2025: Poster Presentations, AACR Annual Meeting, Chicago, USA (Jing Yi Lee, Bavani Kannan)

  • 07 Dec 2024: Poster Presentations, ASH Annual Meeting, New Orleans, USA

  • 11 Oct 2024 : MOU signed with DxD Hub, A*STAR; Collaborative research agreement with PacBio and KITKOJI

  • 14 June 2024 : Poster Presentations, EHA Congress, Madrid, Spain (Boon Yee Lim) 

  • 10 April 2024 : Poster Presentations + Scholar-in-Training Award, AACR Annual Meeting, San Diego, USA (Jing Yi Lee, Tun Kiat Ko)

  • 02 April 2024 : Collaborative research agreement with Illumina

  • 01 Nov 2023: Poster Presentation, CTOS Annual Meeting, Dublin (Elizabeth Lee)​​

  • 15 Sep 2023 : MOU and RCA signed with Agilent Technologies, BioSyngen, BGI Research and MGI Tech

  • 14 June 2023 : Poster Presentation, ICML Lugano, Switzerland​

  • 14 April 2023 : Poster Presentation, AACR Annual Meeting, Florida, USA (Bavani Kannan)​​​​​

  • 20 Mar 2023 : ESMO Merit Award, ESMO Sarcoma and Rare Cancers Congress, Lugano, Switzerland​

  • 18 Mar 2023 : Co-organizer, Singapore Lymphoma Scientific Symposium 2023

  • 12 Dec 2022 : Oral abstract, ASH Annual Meeting, New Orleans, USA​​

  • 09 Dec 2022 : Invited presentation, Stem Cell Society Singapore (SCSS) Symposium (Nimmi Baby)

  • 17 Nov 2022 : Oral paper, CTOS Annual Meeting, Vancouver, Canada (Jing Yi Lee)​

  • 19 Aug 2022 : Invited speech, 6th International BRCA Forum, Singapore​​

  • 19 Aug 2022 : Collaborative research agreement with Scinnohub Pharmaceutical

  • 19 Aug 2022 : Collaborative research agreement with MGI Tech

  • 04 Aug 2022 : Collaborative research agreement with Twist Bioscience

  • 16 Jun 2022 : Best Oral Presentation, International Congress of the Asian Oncology Society (AOS 2022), South Korea (Tun Kiat Ko)​

  • 12 Apr 2022 : Invited Oral Presentation at Major Symposium, AACR Annual Meeting, New Orleans, US

  • 22 Feb 2022 : Publication on circulating tumor DNA mutations in progressive gastrointestinal stromal tumors, Frontiers in Oncology

  • 17 Feb 2022 : Travel Award for Poster abstract at Japanese Society of Medical Oncology Annual Meeting, Japan (Elizabeth Lee)​​

  • ​​12 Jan 2022 : Commercial launch of the UNITED NGS Assay (Lucence) for Asian prevalent cancers at the NCCS

  • 21 Oct 2021 : Collaborative research agreement with STEMCELL Technologies

  • 01 Sep 2021 : Collaborative research agreement with SymBio Pharmaceuticals on EBV-positive lymphomas

  • 01 Sep 2021 : Official launch of Cancer Discovery Hub!

Featured Publications

Scientific publications supported by the Cancer Discovery Hub

Distinct subtypes of kidney transplant-associated urothelial carcinomas harboring BK polyomavirus integration and aristolochic acid mutational signatures Biomedical Journal. 2026

May, 2026

Background: Urothelial carcinoma (UC) is common in kidney transplant recipients, especially in Taiwan. Both BK polyomavirus (BKPyV) genome integration and aristolochic acid (AA) mutagenesis have been implicated in UC carcinogenesis, but their relative contributions remain unclear.

Material and methods: To characterize the molecular features of UC in kidney transplant recipients, we performed whole-genome sequencing (WGS) on 19 tumor specimens and analyzed BKPyV integration sites and AA mutational signatures.

Results: BKPyV genome integration was detected in 6 of 19 (32%) UC specimens, yielding a total of 21 integration sites. Chromosomes 8 and 12 exhibited higher frequencies of integration events. Among these integration sites, 76% were located within introns, 19% in intergenic regions, and one within an exon. AA mutational signatures were identified in 84% of UC specimens. An APOBEC signature was found in 89% of specimens, with high activity in two specimens from patients with polyomavirus nephropathy. Frequent somatic mutations were observed in genes related to chromatin modification [KMT2C (68%), KMT2D (53%), CREBBP (42%), ARID1A (42%)], cell-cycle regulation [TP53 (58%), NF1 (47%), ATM (32%)], and oncogenic signaling [ERBB2 (21%), PIK3CA (16%), FGFR3 (11%), HRAS (11%)]. Notably, UC specimens with BKPyV integration harbored significantly fewer mutations compared to those with AA mutational signatures.

Conclusion: Our findings reveal two distinct molecular subtypes of UC in kidney transplant recipients: one characterized by BKPyV genome integration and the other by AA-associated mutagenesis. These observations suggest divergent mechanisms of UC tumorigenesis and may have implications for diagnosis and treatment in this high-risk population.

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