The Odenthal team has a focus on analyzing the role of epigenetic features in oncogenic signal pathways, that particulary related to the lung cancer paradigmatic genetic lesions, such as  KRAS and EGFR mutations. Chromatin Immunoprecipitation (ChIP) combined with next-generation sequencing (ChIP-Seq), transcriptome (RNA-Seq), and mass spectrometry analyses are used to unravel the molecular network through which epigenetic alterations govern the oncogenic signaling pathways. Furthermore, in preclinical studies using different transgenic cancer mouse models epigenetic inhibitors are tested for their therapeutic application. In translational pre-diagnostic work, circulating serum miRNA profiles and mechanisms of miRNA release  are studied  and circulating nucleic acids such as mitochondrial DNA and cell-free tumor DNA are investigated as putative novel biomarkers for future diagnostics.