Dr. Cherif Badja
Cherif is a research associate working on disease modelling using human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs).
Cherif is a cellular and molecular biologist holding a master’s degree in Genetics and a PhD in Genetics and Stem Cells. Pursuing his career, Cherif is interested in modelling development & degenerative diseases using hiPSCs.
In the team, Cherif is trying to decipher the cellular and molecular mechanisms behind the neurodevelopment abnormalities and the neurodegeneration reported in Nucleotide Excision Repair-deficient patients (NER). He is using 2D and 3D in vitro cellular models to test different hypotheses. Cherif is also using multi-omics (NGS, Metabolomics, Proteomics) data to support his research and findings.
Out of work, Cherif is always happy and relaxed, having quality time with his family. For his “Me time”, Cherif finds it very great doing some workouts and lifting some weight whenever possible.
If you are interested and want to hear more from him, please don’t hesitate to get in touch! He’s always happy to tell you more about his work.
Published Works
- Rouhani, F. J., Zou, X., Danecek, P., Badja, C., Amarante, T. D., Koh, G., Wu, Q., Memari, Y., Durbin, R., Martincorena, I., Bassett, A. R., Gaffney, D., & Nik-Zainal, S. (2022). Substantial somatic genomic variation and selection for BCOR mutations in human induced pluripotent stem cells. Nature genetics, 54(9), 1406–1416. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-022-01147-3
- Zou, X., Koh, G. C. C., Nanda, A. S., Degasperi, A., Urgo, K., Roumeliotis, T. I., Agu, C. A., Badja, C., Momen, S., Young, J., Amarante, T. D., Side, L., Brice, G., Perez-Alonso, V., Rueda, D., Gomez, C., Bushell, W., Harris, R., Choudhary, J. S., Genomics England Research Consortium, … Nik-Zainal, S. (2021). A systematic CRISPR screen defines mutational mechanisms underpinning signatures caused by replication errors and endogenous DNA damage. Nature cancer, 2(6), 643–657. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-021-00200-0
- Mazaleyrat, K., Badja, C., Broucqsault, N., Chevalier, R., Laberthonnière, C., Dion, C., Baldasseroni, L., El-Yazidi, C., Thomas, M., Bachelier, R., Altié, A., Nguyen, K., Lévy, N., Robin, J. D., & Magdinier, F. (2020). Multilineage Differentiation for Formation of Innervated Skeletal Muscle Fibers from Healthy and Diseased Human Pluripotent Stem Cells. Cells, 9(6), 1531. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells9061531
- Degasperi, A., Amarante, T. D., Czarnecki, J., Shooter, S., Zou, X., Glodzik, D., Morganella, S., Nanda, A. S., Badja, C., Koh, G., Momen, S. E., Georgakopoulos-Soares, I., Dias, J. M. L., Young, J., Memari, Y., Davies, H., & Nik-Zainal, S. (2020). A practical framework and online tool for mutational signature analyses show inter-tissue variation and driver dependencies. Nature cancer, 1(2), 249–263. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43018-020-0027-5
- Gaillard, M. C., Broucqsault, N., Morere, J., Laberthonnière, C., Dion, C., Badja, C., Roche, S., Nguyen, K., Magdinier, F., & Robin, J. D. (2019). Analysis of the 4q35 chromatin organization reveals distinct long-range interactions in patients affected with Facio-Scapulo-Humeral Dystrophy. Scientific reports, 9(1), 10327. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-019-46861-x
Contact Us
Prof. Serena Nik-Zainal
Early Cancer Institute
University of Cambridge
Hutchison Research Centre
Box 197
Cambridge Biomedical Campus
Cambridge
United Kingdom
CB2 0XZ