Serena Nik-Zainal

Nik-Zainal was born in Malaysia.[1] Her father was a cardiologist who was involved in the first coronary artery bypass surgery to take place in Malaysia.[2] She was supported by Petronas to attend the University of Cambridge, where she studied medicine.[1] She moved to the Wellcome Sanger Institute in 2009, where she started doctoral research using whole genome sequencing to better understand breast cancer.[3] Whole genome sequencing allows for Nik-Zainal to understand the frequency, distribution and mutation patterns of cancer. She showed that it was possible to identify mutational signatures using downstream analysis, and that algorithms could be used to identify abnormalities quickly. These signatures are left by mutations that occur during the development of cancer. During her research she identified the hypermutation kataegis.[1][4][5]

Nik-Zainal was awarded a Wellcome Trust Clinical Fellowship in 2013. She moved to the Wellcome Sanger Institute, where she explored whole genome sequencing of tumours. Her research combined computational processes and cell-based model systems.

In 2017 Nik-Zainal moved to the University of Cambridge, supported by a Cancer Research UK Advanced Clinician Scientist fellowship.[1] Her research group consider the physiology of mutagenic activity.[6] She has studied both driver and passenger mutations. Passenger mutations can be used to understand how DNA is damaged and repaired during tumorigenesis. Nik-Zainal looks to identify mutational signatures in human cancers and the aetiologies that give rise to them. Nik-Zainal leads the clinical research project Insignia, which researches mutational signatures in people with neurodegeneration, ageing syndromes and DNA repair defects.[7] She became the first woman to win the Josef Steiner Cancer Research Award in 2019.[8] Nik-Zainal has continued to develop computational approaches to identify DNA damage in tumours, insight into which can help to determine the most effective treatment in cancer patients.[9][10]

She was awarded the Francis Crick Medal and Lecture from the Royal Society for her work on he aetiology of cancer and contributions to cancer therapies.[11] In 2021 she was awarded a Research Professorship at the National Institute for Health Research (NIHR).[12]

She has an h-index of 62 according to Google Scholar.[13]

• Alexandrov LB; Nik-Zainal S; Wedge DC; et al. (22 August 2013). "Signatures of mutational processes in human cancer". Nature. 500 (7463): 415–21. doi:10.1038/NATURE12477. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 3776390. PMID 23945592. Wikidata Q29547191. (erratum)
• Serena Nik-Zainal; Helen Davies; Johan Staaf; et al. (2 May 2016). "Landscape of somatic mutations in 560 breast cancer whole-genome sequences". Nature. 534 (7605): 47–54. doi:10.1038/NATURE17676. ISSN 1476-4687. PMC 4910866. PMID 27135926. Wikidata Q34046731.
• Philip J Stephens; Chris D Greenman; Beiyuan Fu; et al. (7 January 2011). "Massive genomic rearrangement acquired in a single catastrophic event during cancer development". Cell. 144 (1): 27–40. doi:10.1016/J.CELL.2010.11.055. ISSN 0092-8674. PMC 3065307. PMID 21215367. Wikidata Q24631164.

Nik-Zainal has two children.[2]