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.
Lymph Node Stromal Cells: Phenotype, Function And The Induction Of Tolerance
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$340,550.00
Summary
Autoimmune diseases, where the immune system kills our own tissue, are initiated in lymph nodes. Lymph node structural cells, called fibroblastic reticular cells (FRC), kill white blood cells capable of reacting against the body's own proteins. FRC could be used to prevent diseases like type I diabetes, but little is understood about their actions. We propose to study the way they work and their potential to prevent or treat autoimmunity when transplanted in mice.
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
Identifying Genes That Function As Epigenetic Barriers To Cell Reprogramming
Funder
National Health and Medical Research Council
Funding Amount
$379,649.00
Summary
Stem cells can form many different cell types and show significant promise in cell therapies. New technologies allow the generation of stem cells from adult cell types such as skin cells, but these technologies are inefficient and typically introduce new genetic material to the cells. This project will develop new, more efficient approaches for producing stem cells potentially without the introduction of genetic material, thereby improving the use of these stem cells in therapies.