Exploring Roles For MicroRNAs In Cancer Using Bioinformatics And Gene Expression Tools.
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$292,639.00
Summary
microRNAs are newly discovered chemicals that were the subject of the 2006 Nobel Prize in Medicine. These chemicals decrease the amount of specific molecular ‘targets’ in cells, and play an important role in cancer. Currently we do not understand how these chemicals choose their targets, and we propose to use a computer-based approach to discover how they affect genes in cancer. This will improve our understanding of cancer and thereby lead to the discovery of novel anti-cancer therapies.
Identifying Novel Genome Instability Signatures In Cancer
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$320,891.00
Summary
Cancer is the single biggest clinical problem facing the world. An underlying hallmark of cancer is the accumulation of errors in the genetic information of a cell which arises through genomic instability. This research project aims to investigate novel molecules identified by our screening that function in response to genomic instability in cancer. This study is expected to define roles for each molecule in the maintenance of genomic stability and predict for patient diagnosis and outcome.
Evolutionary Genomics Approaches For Studying Acquisition Of Drug Resistance In Tumours
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$313,390.00
Summary
Chemotherapy often fails because some of the cells in tumour evolve resistance to the drugs the patient is given, causing relapse. We study how a tumour’s unstable genome and high rate of mutation drives its evolution by observing tumour cells in the laboratory as they evolve resistance to drugs and the genetic differences between resistant and sensitive cells. This work will help develop therapeutic strategies to prevent tumours from evolving resistance to chemotherapy.
A Piggy-back Screen For Genes Involved In Cancer Epigenetics
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$302,123.00
Summary
Cancer can be caused not only by mutations in genes, but also by changes to our epigenome, which controls whether genes are on or off. There is much still to learn about the epigenome. We have developed a method to identify epigenome regulators. The epigenome is disrupted in cancer, but it is not know whether this starts tumour growth. I will use mutant mice to study this and analyse human cancers for mutations in epigenome regulators. This may lead to preventative screening and new treatments.