Host Laboratories at Cambridge :

Informal enquiries about the host laboratories at Cambridge should be made to:
Dr Rebecca Fitzgerald
email: rcf@Hutchison-MRC.cam.ac.uk

Molecular Histopathology

Principal Investigators: Peter Collins, Koichi Ichimura
Area of research: To understand the molecular mechanisms that underlie the development and progression of human gliomas. To use this knowledge to improve diagnostic accuracy, identify new methods for their diagnosis, prognostication and improve treatment.

Principal Investigator: Ming Du
Area of research: To elucidate the pathology, immunophenotype and molecular genetics of several lymphoproliferative disorders, in particular, the oncogenic mechanisms of chromosomal translocations involved in MALT lymphoma and the molecular genetics of T-cell lymphomas and related disorders.

Principal Investigators: Mark Arends, Andrew Wyllie
Area of research: To define subsets of colorectal adenomas and carcinomas on the basis of the pattern of genomic and epigenetic change as determined by high resolution array technology and to investigate the function of newly-identified cancer-associated gene products.

Principal Investigators: Suzanne Turner
Area of research: Our research focuses on the t(2;5) product, Nucleophosmin-Anaplastic Lymphoma Kinase (NPM-ALK) associated with anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). By studying the cell signalling pathways activated by the translocation breakpoint products it is hoped that we will be able to develop more specific, efficacious therapies for the treatment of this class of disease.

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Hutchison/MRC Research Centre

Principal Investigator: Ron Laskey
Area of research: To study the control of DNA replication in human cells and to exploit that information to improve cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Principal Investigator:Rebecca Fitzgerald
Area of research:To understand the molecular pathogenesis of oesophageal carcinogenesis,using a combination of in vitro cell biological assays and genomics, and apply this understanding to clinical screening and surveillance programmes.

Principal Investigator: Nick Coleman
Area of research: To identify genes of potential importance in the biology of malignancy, particularly cancer of the cervix and solid tumours of children.    To test the value of specific genes in diagnostic pathology, with the aim of improving screening for cancer and predicting how cancers will behave.

Principal Investigator: Ashok Venkitaraman
Area of research: To understand the factors involved in maintenance of normal chromosome structure and number and why this breaks down in cancer cells.

Principal Investigator: Paul Edwards
Area of research: To identify and understand chromosomal rearrangements in breast and other carcinomas and to identify genes targeted by genome rearrangement in breast cancer, using cutting-edge genomics technologies.

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Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Gurdon Institute

Principal Investigator: Stephen Jackson
Area of research: To understand the molecular details of how cells respond to DNA damage and how defects in these events lead to cancer and other age-related diseases.

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MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology

Principal Investigator: Ermanno Gherardi
Area of research: To understand the structure of HGF/SF and MET in order to understand the structural basis of HGF/SF-MET signalling and in order to gain information which may lead to the development of MET-based therapies for cancer.   To express and crystallise fragments of HGF/SF and MET, which retain the ability to form high-affinity and stable complexes, and to generate ligand-based and antibody-based receptor antagonists for cancer therapy.

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MRC Dunn Human Nutrition Unit

Principal Investigator: Sheila Bingham
Area of research: To develop and sustain strategic research in the epidemiology and molecular aetiology of nutrition in cancer, to provide a more specific basis for dietary intervention studies, public health advice and clinical guidance on treatment.

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Cancer Research UK Cambridge Research Institute

Principal Investigator: Carlos Caldas
Area of research: To Improve the taxonomy of breast cancer using molecular profiling, investigating whether germline polymorphisms are associated with particular molecular subsets of breast cancer (genotype-phenotype hypothesis), and whether somatic genetic events in tumours can help identify predisposition genes.

Principal Investigator: James D Brenton
Area of research: To identify clinically relevant mechanisms of drug resistance in ovarian cancer by molecular profiling of samples from randomised clinical trials of novel design and development of better cell-based model systems.

Principal Investigator: David Neal
Area of research: To investigate the role of adaptor proteins in the modulation of growth factor and nuclear hormone receptor signalling in prostate cancer.

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