Hometown: Tokyo, Japan
Academic & professional history
Dr. Yuka Takemon (they/them) was involved in translational biomedical research using model organisms (e.g. Leucoraja erinacea and Mus musculus) to study various human diseases at the MDI Biological Laboratory and The Jackson Laboratory (JAX) in Bar Harbor, ME, USA. Through the University of Maine, they completed a master’s in bioinformatics at JAX in 2018. Yuka joined the MATCH lab in 2019 as a PhD student to study genetic networks of tumour suppressor genes. They completed a PhD in Genome Science and Technology at UBC in 2024.
What project(s) do you work on?
Cancers frequently acquire loss-of-function mutations that affect tumour suppressor genes, leading to reduced or complete ablation of their protein product. As a result, there are no cancer cell-specific targets for drugs to bind, rendering targeted therapies ineffective against cancers driven by such mutations. To address this issue, Yuka developed a computational tool that maps genetic networks of cancer-associated genes, including tumour suppressor genes, and predicts potentially targetable vulnerabilities (i.e. synthetic lethalities) specific to cancer cells harbouring the unique somatic mutation. They aim to evaluate how such computational approaches can inform and potentially benefit precision cancer medicine.
How do you spend your time outside of the lab?
Outside the lab, Yuka spends much time with their family and dog in local parks and beaches and cooking new recipes. They are a certified instructor with Posit (formally RStudio) and The Carpentries and teach coding workshops locally at UBC and RLadies Vancouver and internationally. They are also a part of an international team that develops and maintains the Intro to R and RStudio for Genomics lessons at The Carpentries.
Search for Dr. Yuka Takemon, PhD's papers on the Research page