Sanne Janssen

Dr. Sanne Janssen is a postdoctoral fellow in the lab of Dr. Matthew Lorincz at the University of British Columbia. She completed her PhD at McGill University in Montreal under the supervision of Dr. Alan Spatz. Her research aims to gain insight into the epigenetic pathways that modify gene expression in disease.

Sanne became interested in epigenetic control of gene expression during her PhD studies. Her doctoral work uncovered the role of an epigenetic protein in abnormal expression of cancer promoting genes in skin cancer.

Sanne’s current research, funded by Health Research BC, focuses on the epigenetic mechanisms gone wrong in a neurodevelopmental disorder called Sotos Syndrome. Through the use of next generation sequencing and neuronal differentiation techniques she aims to uncover which epigenetic pathways contribute to faulty gene expression in Sotos Syndrome.