Understanding pathways which regulate tumour cell death

Programmed cell death is a natural mechanism in our bodies which serves to eradicate cells which may otherwise form a tumour. Inactivation of these pathways is, therefore, a common event that contributes to cancer progression. Since many standard forms of cancer therapy also utilize these same pathways to kill cancer cells this causes serious problems which lead to drug resistance.

It is widely considered that the identification and understanding of novel cell death regulators will lead to new ways to kill cancer cells. In this regard, we have undertaken a series of screens for factors which regulate apoptosis and autophagy – two processes which regulate cell viability. The successful student will use state-of-the-art genomic and proteomic techniques to understand the role played by this factor in programmed cell death. In addition, through the generation of transgenic systems which lack this factor, analysis will also be made of the gene’s contribution to tumour development and therapy in genetically-modified in vivo models of cancer.