Structural Investigations Of The Bax And Bak Cell Death Apparatus
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$275,509.00
Summary
Programmed cell death is a process by which the body keeps rogue cells in check. Cancer cells adapt to avoid this process and thus evade this important defence mechanism. This project seeks to understand the machinery that controls programmed cell death at the molecular level. It will provide the atomic details of how this machinery is regulated and how it functions to induce cell death. These insights will provide new avenues for targeting this machinery for a new generation of cancer therapeut ....Programmed cell death is a process by which the body keeps rogue cells in check. Cancer cells adapt to avoid this process and thus evade this important defence mechanism. This project seeks to understand the machinery that controls programmed cell death at the molecular level. It will provide the atomic details of how this machinery is regulated and how it functions to induce cell death. These insights will provide new avenues for targeting this machinery for a new generation of cancer therapeutics.Read moreRead less
Understanding The Activation Of Pro-apoptotic Bcl-2 Family Proteins For The Development Of Modulators Of Apoptosis
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$627,805.00
Summary
Programmed cell death is a process by which the body protects against rogue cells, eg cells potentially cancerous or infected by viruses. Dysregulation of the process occurs in cancer and can also lead to degenerative diseases. This work will discover the molecular mechanisms by which key proteins control the life/death switch in cells and will develop compounds capable of regulating their activity, setting the foundation for developing therapeutics aimed at regulating these processes.
A common characteristic of cancer is the failure of cells to die when they normally would. One of the problems with many cancer therapies is that they rely on the integrity of signalling pathways to the normal ‘death machinery’ of the cell to do their job. By understanding how the molecular death machine operates we are fashioning new drugs that can target it directly, thus bypassing the very pathways that are so frequently disrupted in tumour cells.
Detailed images of protein molecules underpin our understanding of biological function and our attempts to find new medicines to counter biological malfunction. Proteins belonging to the so-called Bcl-2 family determine whether a cell lives or dies and, because failure to die on cue is a hallmark of many cancers, high resolution images of these molecules will reveal new targets for cancer therapies.
Role Of Kaposi Sarcoma Herpesvirus In Tumour Development
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$414,615.00
Summary
Failure to remove damaged, infected or unwanted cells via programmed cell death leads to a number of diseases, including cancers and auto-immune diseases. Viruses have the ability to subvert the host cell death machinery for their own benefit. Viral infections have been linked to a number of cancers. We aim to target the ability of viruses to subvert the process of cell death to develop new treatments against virus-linked cancers including Kaposi’s sarcoma or primary effusion lymphoma.