Hereditary Non-Polyposis Colorectal Cancer (HNPCC) confers a high lifetime risk of developing cancer, especially colorectal and endometrial cancer. By characterising disease presentation in the patient cohort, HNPCC in an Australian context will be better defined. The aim of this proposal is to undertake a genetic investigation such that a more comprehensive personalised patient risk-assessment can be completed by identifying genes related to disease development.
The behaviour of prostate cancer cells is regulated by their surrounding environment known as the stroma. The stroma has been proposed as a therapeutic target, but it is a diverse mix of cells that needs to be specifically targeted. Not all stromal cells are equal; cells surrounding tumours have different features from cells in normal tissue. Therefore, the goal of this project is to directly isolate cancer-associated stromal cells from patient tissue and study their role in cancer progression.
Adult and embryonic stem cells have enormous therapeutic potential. Haemopoietic stem cells have been the most intensely studied and widely used in a therapeutic setting, yet we have only a patchy knowledge of the genes required for their proliferation and survival. I will use classical genetic screens in the mouse to identify genes that regulate stem cell behaviour. I will analyse two existing mutant mouse strains with reduced numbers of haemopoietic stem cells, and execute a novel genetic scre ....Adult and embryonic stem cells have enormous therapeutic potential. Haemopoietic stem cells have been the most intensely studied and widely used in a therapeutic setting, yet we have only a patchy knowledge of the genes required for their proliferation and survival. I will use classical genetic screens in the mouse to identify genes that regulate stem cell behaviour. I will analyse two existing mutant mouse strains with reduced numbers of haemopoietic stem cells, and execute a novel genetic screen utilising mice with a defect in the self-renewal of adult haemopoietic and neural stem cells, to find mice with a recovered stem cell compartment.Read moreRead less
Characterizing The Cancer Stem Cell Population In Human Acute Myeloid Leukemia
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$380,665.00
Summary
At the root of many cancers are rare cells that sustain a tumour’s ability to grow and spread. These rare cells, termed “cancer stem cells”, are poorly understood and unfortunately are not eliminated by most current cancer therapies. Thus, after a course of chemotherapy that has eradicated the bulk of the tumour, these rare cells can persist and allow the disease to return. The aim of this proposal is to better characterize cancer stem cells so that improved therapies can be devised.