Host Laboratories at Barts and The London Medical School

Informal enquiries about the host laboratories at Barts should be made to:
Professor Louise Jones
email: louise.j.jones@cancer.org.uk

Centre for Cancer & Inflammation

Principal Investigator: Fran Balkwill
Area of research: The pro-inflammatory, pro-tumour microenvironment of epithelialcancer, particularly ovarian cancer. To study tumour promotion by inflammatory processes as a means of identifying new therapeutic targets.

Principal Investigator:Toby Lawrence
Area of Research: Studies on the cell biology of inflammation and particularly emphasis on the role of inflammation in the promotion of cancer. The use of tissue specific gene targeting to study cell signallng pathways in tumour stromal cells and their impact on tumour biology.

Principal Investigator: Dr Thorsten Hagemann
Area of Research: to understand the fundamental mechanisms by which cancer associated inflammation promotes tumour progression in pancreatic cancer; with particular reference to the role of macrophages and their phenotype in carcinogenesis

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Centre for Cancer Cell Signalling

Principal Investigator: Bart Vanhaesebroeck
Area of Research: To understand the biological functions and signalling mechanisms of the phosphoinositide 3-kinases (PI3Ks), implicated in the control of various cellular processes such as growth, proliferation, survival, differentiation and migration. Using genetically modified mice in which the genes for these enzymes are inactivated to uncover the functions of the individual PI3K isoforms in the normal and diseased state.

Principal Investigator: Pedro R. Cutillas
Area of research: Focuses on understanding the basic principles by which cell signalling pathways operate and how these are subverted in disease.
Our research involves the use of mass spectrometry and related analytical techniques to quantify the activity of cell signalling pathways and to understand their contribution to the signalling network. Our goal is to decipher how these networks are deregulated in cancer cells and to translate these findings to the design of rational therapies.

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Centre for Molecular Oncology & Imaging

Principal Investigator: Nick Lemoine   
Area of Research: i) Oncolytic virotherapy, particularly using selectively replicating viruses to exploit the abnormalities of cell survival signalling circuits in cancer cells; ii) Molecular pathology of pancreatic cancer with particular focus on genomic and expression profiling approaches to identify biomarkers of drug resistance and sensitivity.

Principal Investigator: Tatjana Crnogorac-Jurcevic   
Area of Research: To understand the earliest molecular changes in the development of pancreatic cancer using large-scale transcriptomic and proteomic analyses of PanINs (pancreatic intraepithelial neoplasia), precursor lesions from which pancreatic carcinoma develops.

Principal Investigator: Yao-He Wang
Area of Research: The development of replication-selective oncolytic viruses for cancer therapy, exploring different ways to enhance the antitumour potency of oncolytic adenovirus, including the modulation of the innate immune response; the identification of genetic events in tumour cells that affect the life cycle of adenovirus using Affymetrix expression profiling and RNAi libraries in cell models; and the development of a new generation of oncolytic adenoviruses.

Principal Investigator: Iain McNeish
Area of Research: The abnormalities in apoptosis and cell cycle control as targets for novel therapeutics in ovarian carcinoma. Studying the potential of adenoviral vectors that replicate selectively in cells with dysfunctional Rb pathway. Phase I trials of such a virus are due to commence towards the end of 2007. Interest in death signalling pathways activated by replicating viruses and is investigating how viruses induce cell death and how this can be manipulated. Developing in vivo models to allow imaging of virus activity in the peritoneal cavity and to assess the role of the immune system in determining viral activity in vivo.

Principal Investigator: Yong-Jie Lu
Area of research: Genetic studies of prostate and testicular germ cell tumours.   To improve the treatment of male urogenital tumours by improving our understanding of their molecular aetiology. The development of novel, molecular, cytogenetic techniques to study the epigenetic alterations of male urogenital cancers.

Principal Investigator: Dr Peter Szlosarek
Area of Research: (i) The aberrant expression of argininosuccinate synthetase and its therapeutic exploitation in human cancer; (ii) Characterization of a novel TNF-inducible transcriptional modulator in human tumorigenesis and its validation as a therapeutic target.

Principal Investigator: Dr Claude Chelala
Area of Research: To develop computational and integrative bioinformatics tools for the analysis, mining and integration of complex cancer -omics datasets

 

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Centre for Medical Oncology

Principal Investigator: Bryan Young
Area of research: To apply microarray technology to gain new insights into the structure and expression of the cancer genome, leading to management based on genomic medicine, both in diagnosis and treatment, in leukaemia. To integrate these large genome-based data sets to develop a functional view of the leukaemia genome.

Principal Investigator: Jude Fitzgibbon
Area of research: To determine the sequence of mutational events that lead to acute myeloid leukaemia, and in the use of genomics to study the transformation of follicular lymphoma to diffuse large B cell lymphoma.

Principal Investigator: John Gribben
Area of research: To develop immunotherapy approaches for the treatment of cancer, including stem cell transplantation; and to identify tumour antigens with particular emphasis on B cell malignancies.

Principal investigator: Dr David Taussig            
Area of research: To understand the mechanism of bone marrow failure in acute myeloid leukaemia.

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Centre for Tumour Biology

Principal Investigator: Ian Hart
Area of research: To understand how cell adhesion affects tumour spread and to develop strategies for blocking cancer metastasis.   Studies include the integration of classical in vitro tissue culture and molecular studies with molecular pathology approaches to examine clinical material

Principal Investigator: Louise Jones
Area of research: Investigation of the tumour suppressor effect of normal breast myoepithelial cells, including proteins that have the potential to alter myoepithelial cell function profoundly and to modify their suppressor function. Microarray tissue analysis is used to define distinct subtypes of DCIS in order to predict behaviour better.  

Principal Investigator: Kairbaan Hodivale-Dilke
Area of research: To understand the role of cell adhesion molecules in cancer progression both in vivo and in vitro, with particular interest in skin and angiogenesis and a focus on the roles of specific integrins and other cell adhesion molecules in angiogenesis.

Principal Investigator: Stephanie Kermorgant
Area of Research: To understand the spatio-temporal signalling of growth factor receptors (particularly c-Met) by studying their signalling in relation to their endocytic trafficking and the relationship with tumour cell migration and invasion in vitro and in vivo.

Principal Investigator: Richard Grose
Area of Research: Using genetically modified mouse models to delineate the functions of Fgfs and their receptors in the skin, with a particular emphasis on wound repair and carcinogenesis. Development of an in vitro screen using organotypic skin cultures for the identification of genes pivotal to the wound repair process.

Principal Investigator: Helen Hurst
Area of Research: Research is in aberrant patterns of gene expression in cancer – mainly breast cancer. The work focuses on using modern molecular biology techniques, such as ChIP and microarrays, to study the AP-2 family of transcription factors. There are also additional projects examining the gene expression profile of hormone resistant tumours.

Principal Investigator: Rebecca Roylance
Area of Research: `identification of genes involved in low grade breast cancer and elucidation of pathways of progression in breast tumorigenesis.

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CR-UK London Research Institute: Histopathology Laboratory

Principal Investigator: Nick Wright
Area of Research: To analyse morphological patterns of disease with particular reference to stem cells and stem cell plasticity, using human tissues from transplant patients, a variety of other models, and molecular markers to trace cellular origin. 

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Institute of Cell and Molecular Science

Principal Investigator: Silvia Marino
Area of research: The focus is on molecular mechanisms controlling the development of the central nervous system and on how these very same mechanisms can contribute to tumourigenesis when deregulated.
Our work in mainly centered on the biology of neural stem cells and neural progenitor cells, on the pathways and genes involved in control of their proliferation and differentiation, in particular the Sonic Hedgehog pathway and the Polycomb group genes. Moreover we are investigating the role of cancerous stem cells as well as pathways and molecular mechanisms involved in the formation and progression of brain tumours in experimental models and in human tumour samples.

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