Manel Esteller

Manel Esteller has made foundational contributions to understanding CpG island hypermethylation as a mechanism of tumor suppressor gene silencing in cancer, systematically cataloguing methylation-mediated inactivation of hundreds of genes across tumor types. His laboratory defined the CpG island methylator phenotype in colorectal cancer and glioblastoma, establishing CIMP as a clinically relevant molecular subtype. He has expanded the field to include epigenetic regulation of non-coding RNAs in cancer and the interplay between histone modifications and DNA methylation patterns. His work on MGMT promoter methylation contributed to its clinical use as a predictive biomarker for temozolomide response in glioblastoma.