Prof. Michal Kováč

About

Research focus

• Cancer evolution and multi-omics integration — mapping tumour heterogeneity across genomic, transcriptomic and epigenomic layers
• Explainable and generative AI for interpreting the functional impact of mutations and supporting clinical decisions
• In silico medicine — HPC-driven simulation of therapeutic responses and drug-target interactions
• Cancer pan-genomics — large-scale somatic and germline variation analysis, including hereditary cancer syndromes (e.g. Lynch syndrome)
• Next-generation sequencing, variant calling, RNA-seq, DNA methylation, pangenomics and metagenomics

Education & training

• MSc — Software Engineering

  University of Oxford, United Kingdom

• PhD — Genetics

  Comenius University in Bratislava

• Mgr. — Molecular Biology

  Comenius University in Bratislava

• Postdoctoral Fellow

  Roche Pharma Research and Early Diagnostics — Pharmacogenomics & Drug Discovery

Appointments & roles

• Vice-Dean for Science & Research

  Faculty of Informatics and Information Technologies, Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (FIIT STU)

• Principal Investigator

  AIpology Project — AI frameworks for personalised oncology and biomarker discovery

• Principal Investigator

  Gestalt Project — advanced mutation profiling in Lynch syndrome

• Former appointments

  University of Oxford · University of Basel · Roche Pharma Research and Early Diagnostics

Selected publications

• Saba K, Difilippo V, Kovac M, et al. Disruption of the TP53 locus in osteosarcoma leads to TP53 promoter gene fusions and restoration of parts of the TP53 signalling pathway. Journal of Pathology. 2024;262:147–160.
• Barenboim M, Kovac M, Ameline B, et al. DNA methylation-based classifier and gene expression signatures detect BRCAness in osteosarcoma. PLoS Computational Biology. 2021;17(11):e1009562.
• Kovac M, Ameline B, Ribi S, et al. The early evolutionary landscape of osteosarcoma provides clues for targeted treatment strategies. Journal of Pathology. 2021;254(5):556–566.
• Kovac M, Wooley C, Ribi S, et al. Germline RET mutations confer susceptibility to a subset of osteosarcoma. Journal of Medical Genetics. 2021;58(1):20–24.
• Cross W, Kovac M, Mustonen V, et al. The evolutionary landscape of colorectal tumorigenesis. Nature Ecology & Evolution. 2018;2:1661–1672.
• Lopez-García C, Sansregret L, Domingo E, …, Kovac M, et al. BCL9L dysfunction impairs Caspase-2 expression permitting aneuploidy tolerance in colorectal cancer. Cancer Cell. 2017;31:79–93.
• Findlay JM, Castro-Giner F, Makino S, …, Kovac M, et al. Differential clonal evolution in oesophageal cancers in response to neoadjuvant chemotherapy and its implications for clinical management. Nature Communications. 2016;7:11111.
• Kovac M*, Blattmann C*, Ribi S*, et al. Exome sequencing of osteosarcoma reveals mutation signatures reminiscent of BRCA deficiency. Nature Communications. 2015;6:8940.
• Additional publications in Nature Genetics, Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Cancer Research, British Journal of Cancer, Clinical Genetics and others — full list available on request.