Advancing our understanding of germinal center B-cell lymphomas.
Follicular lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma both begin with B cells that pass through the germinal center, the part of a lymph node where B cells learn to make better antibodies. We study what happens there, using open genomic data and modern data science, to support the research community's progress toward earlier prediction and ever more precise care.
Understand germinal center lymphomas well enough to change their course.
Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is the most common aggressive lymphoma, and follicular lymphoma is the most common slow-growing one. They are closely related: they share many of the same genetic changes, and follicular lymphoma can transform into diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. Treatments keep improving, and research is steadily revealing which lymphomas will relapse or transform, when, and why.
Germinal Center Research exists to support that work. Building on the genomic and clinical studies of the research community, we add evidence on which mutations drive each lymphoma, how tumors change over time, and which signals can flag risk early. We share methods and results openly so that clinicians and laboratories can test and build on them.
- Where they start. Follicular lymphoma and diffuse large B-cell lymphoma arise from B cells in or just past the germinal center. Most follicular lymphomas and a share of diffuse large B-cell lymphomas carry the t(14;18) translocation, which switches on BCL2 and lets B cells that should die survive instead.
- Shared hits. Mutations in genes that control how DNA is packaged, such as KMT2D, CREBBP and EZH2, are among the most common changes in both. Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma adds others, such as MYC rearrangements, that drive faster growth.
- Why it matters. The same germinal center program that makes good antibodies also creates the conditions for these mistakes. Understanding that program is the path to understanding these diseases.
Four questions we are working on
Transformation
Why some follicular lymphomas transform into diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, and whether the mutations present at diagnosis or across later biopsies can flag that risk early.
Clonal evolution
How tumors change over time: which mutations are present from the start, which appear later, and what that tells us about relapse.
Usable data
Pathology and sequencing reports hold rich detail. We build open tools that help researchers bring that detail into structured data they can analyze alongside their own.
Subtypes and the germinal center
How the normal biology of the germinal center, from mutation to selection by helper cells, shapes which changes lead to lymphoma, and how genetic subtypes of diffuse large B-cell lymphoma can guide treatment.
How we work
Open data first
We start from public genomic datasets and published cohorts, and we describe exactly which data each result comes from.
Privacy by design
No patient-identifiable information is ever published. Clinical data stays with the institutions that hold it.
Checkable methods
Every model is scored against verified ground truth, and we report where it fails as well as where it works.
Hypotheses, then the lab
Computation proposes; experiments decide. We aim to hand laboratories ranked, testable ideas.
Collaboration
We work with clinicians, laboratories and data holders, and credit every contribution.
The follicular lymphoma driver deck
Sixty tarot-size study cards, one for each gene and concept that drives follicular lymphoma, grouped into eleven color-coded modules from founder events to immune evasion.
- Front: the gene, its pathway module, and a map of its chromosome with the locus marked, plus coordinates, span, exon count and protein length.
- Back: the lesion as it appears in follicular lymphoma, the mechanism, what it means in the clinic, and how it is measured.
- Printed on 330 gsm card stock in a custom tuck box. 2026 edition.
An educational study aid, not medical advice. Coordinates and frequencies are for orientation, not citation.
We do not give medical advice.
Please talk with your hematologist or oncologist about your care. These organizations offer reliable information and support:
Work with us
We are looking for laboratories that can test computational hypotheses, clinicians interested in relapse and transformation risk, and groups that hold follicular or diffuse large B-cell lymphoma datasets and are open to collaboration.
Mike Smith, PhD
A data scientist who has spent three decades in media, technology and data, now applying the same methods to the biology of germinal center lymphomas. mikesmith.ventures