Awarded FNRS Chargé de recherches Fellowship | Yura Song, PhD

I am delighted to share that I have been awarded an FNRS Chargé de recherches (CR) fellowship for the period 2026–2029.

My project, “Molecular and spatial regulation of cell competition during cutaneous squamous cell carcinoma initiation,” aims to understand how oncogene-mutant epidermal cells compete with their normal neighbours during the earliest stages of skin cancer development.

Although cancer-associated mutations are frequently detected in normal skin, only a subset of mutant clones persist, expand, and eventually progress toward malignancy. This project will investigate the molecular and spatial mechanisms that determine why some mutant cells become winners while others are eliminated. By combining lineage tracing, single-cell multi-omics, spatial transcriptomics, and computational modelling, I will characterize the regulatory programs operating at mutant–wild-type cellular interfaces and determine how tissue organization, stromal interactions, and sex-dependent signals influence clonal fitness.

The project will be carried out in the Laboratory of Stem Cells and Cancer, led by Prof. Cédric Blanpain, at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Beyond providing new insights into the biology of cell competition, this work aims to identify mechanisms that may ultimately help restrict the earliest stages of oncogenic clonal expansion and cancer initiation.

I am deeply grateful to my mentors, collaborators, colleagues, friends, and family for their support throughout this journey. I am excited to begin this new chapter and look forward to sharing the progress of the project over the coming years.