Researcher Profile Form First National Pediatric Brain Tumor Research Meeting March 9, 2025 - Jerusalem
Researcher: Dr. Netanel Loyfer
Current Role & Affiliation
Title/Position: a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Yuval Dor's lab at the Faculty of Medicine
Institution: School of Computer Science and Engineering, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Phone: 054-5886885
Dr Loyfer is a post doctoral student in the laboratory of Prof Yuval Dor and Prof Ruth Shemer
Research Focus
Dr Loyfer is involved in the development of an innovative method of analysis of methylation of cell free DNA, allowing fr the diagnosis of both cancer as well as treatment side effects.
Current Projects Related to Pediatric Brain Tumors
Cell free DNA methylation may allow early diagnosis, follow up of minimal residual disease and diagnosis of deep set tumors
Collaboration Interests
Disease conditions requiring liquid biopsy based molecular diagnosis.
What You Can Offer Potential Collaborators
extensive experience and a highly curated database allowing for liquid biopsy based on methylation of cell free DNA
Keywords
Cell free DNA, Liquid biopsy, Computational biology, Methylation profile,
Recent Relevant Publications
1. J Moss et.al. Comprehensive human cell-type methylation atlas reveals origins of circulating cell-free DNA in health and disease
Nature communications 9 (1), 5068
2. N Loyfer et.al. A DNA methylation atlas of normal human cell types
Nature 613 (7943), 355-364
3. N Loyfer et.al. Wgb tools: A computational suite for DNA methylation sequencing data representation, visualization, and analysis
bioRxiv, 2024.05. 08.593132
Brief Bio
Dr. Netanel Loyfer, is a postdoctoral fellow in Prof. Yuval Dor’s lab at the Faculty of Medicine, in the Hebrew University. As a doctoral student in Prof Kaplan’s lab he played an important role in the creation and publication of a groundbreaking DNA methylation atlas spanning a range of human cell types,. He has used this resource to identify thousands of cell-type-specific biomarkers with diagnostic potential, and has developed state-of-the-art algorithms to quantify the relative contribution of each cell type to circulating cfDNA. He has also released an open-source software package, wgbstools, facilitating the analysis of DNA methylation sequencing data including cfDNA. Dr Loyfer had earned third place in the prestigious Falling Walls competition in Berlin, being named "Breakthrough of the Year" for his pioneering work, “Breaking the Wall of Cell-Free DNA.” Out of 2,500 doctoral and early-career scientists worldwide
