Maurine Hammel

With a university background in ecology and evolutionary biology, my research focuses on studying various aspects of transmissible cancers, including their evolution, ecology and host-cancer interactions.

During my PhD (2018-2021) I studied the biology, ecology and evolution of a transmissible cancer (MtrBTN2) in Mytilus sp. mussels, on the supervision of Nicolas Bierne (ISEM) and Guillaume Charrière (IHPE) at University of Montpellier in France. Using both experimental and empirical approaches, I studied the evolutionary history of this unusual parasite and its interactions with host organisms, particularly the host immune response.

Since October 2022, I joined the TCG team, headed by Pr Elizabeth Murchison, to study the host-cancer interactions of three transmissible cancers affecting mammals: the Canine Transmissible Venereal Tumor (CTVT) in dogs, and the two Devil Facial Tumor (DFT1, DFT2) in Tasmanian devils. Through transcriptomics approached at the single-cell level, I aim to study the tumour microenvironment to better understand how those cancers escape the host immune system and how this could predict the progress and outcome of the disease.

Articles

· Gori, K., Baez-Ortega, A., Strakova, A., Stammnitz, M. R., Wang, J., Chan, J., Hughes, K., Belkhir, S., Hammel, M., Moralli, D., Bancroft, J., Drydale, E., Allum, K. M., Brignone, M. V., Corrigan, A. M., Castro, K. F. de, Donelan, E. M., Faramade, I. A., Hayes, A., … Murchison, E. P. (2025). Horizontal transfer of nuclear DNA in transmissible cancer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 122(18), e2424634122. https://doi.org/10.1073/PNAS.2424634122

· Hammel, M., F. Touchard, E. A. V. Burioli, L. Paradis, F. Cerqueira, E. Chailler, I. Bernard, H. Cochet, A. Simon, F. Thomas, D. Destoumieux-Garzón, G. M. Charrière, and N. Bierne. (2024). “Marine Transmissible Cancer Navigates Urbanized Waters, Threatening Spillover.” Proceedings of the Royal Society B, 291(2017). https://doi.org/10.1098/RSPB.2023.2541

· Burioli, E. A. V., Hammel, M., Vignal, E., Vidal-Dupiol, J., Mitta, G., Thomas, F., Bierne, N., Destoumieux-Garzón, D., & Charrière, G. M. (2023). Transcriptomics of mussel transmissible cancer MtrBTN2 suggests accumulation of multiple cancer traits and oncogenic pathways shared among bilaterians. Open Biology, 13(10). https://doi.org/10.1098/RSOB.230259

· Hammel M. Simon A., Arbiol C., Villalba A, Burioli EAV, Pépin JF, Lamy JB, Benabdelmouna A, Bernard I, Houssin M, Charrière GM, Destoumieux-Garzon D, Welch JJ, Metzger MJ, Bierne N. (2022) Prevalence and polymorphism of a mussel transmissible cancer in Europe. Mol. Ecol., 31, 736_751. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.16052

· Burioli E.A.V., Hammel M., Bierne N., Thomas F., Houssin M., Destoumieux-Garzón D., Charrière G.M. (2021) Traits of a mussel transmissible cancer are reminiscent of a parasitic life style. Sci. Rep. 11, 24110. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-03598-w

· Yonemitsu M.A., Giersch R.M., Polo-Prieto M., Hammel M., Simon A., Cremonte F., Avilés F.T., Merino-Véliz N., Burioli E.A.V., Muttray A.F., Sherry J., Reinisch C., Baldwin S.A., Goff S.P., Houssin M., Arriagada G., Vázquez N., Bierne N., Metzger M.J. (2019) A single clonal lineage

of transmissible cancer identifed in two marine mussel species in South America and Europe. ELife 8, 1029. https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.47788

Public engagement

· “Tasmanian devil hunting”: educational activity for children to know more about Tasmanian devils and their diseases, Cambridge Science Festival, Department Veterinary Medicine, March 2024 and 2025 (UK).

· The 'Declics' meetings: discussing the profession of research with high school students, Montpellier (France), January 2022

Links

OrcID : 0000-0001-9937-5678

Mastodon ecoevo.social : @Maurine_Hammel Research Gate : https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Maurine-Hammel