| Program Head: Associate Professor Maria Kavallaris (biography)
RESEARCH AREAS
Cytoskeletal protein and cancer
Proteomics of drug resistance and drug response
Aurora kinases in cancer
Nanotechnology to deliver treatments
One of the hallmarks of cancer cells is their ability to divide and multiply in an uncontrolled manner. Specific proteins play an important part in the cell division process and as such make extremely important targets for anticancer therapy. The long term goals of the Pharmacoproteomics Group are to understand the role and function of proteins in cancer cells so that improved treatments for cancer can be developed. The Group has made important progress in understanding how neuroblastoma and leukaemia cells develop resistance to anticancer drugs that interfere with cell division. This information is now being used to block drug resistance and make drug resistant cancer cells sensitive to anticancer drugs.
STUDENT PROJECTS
- Regulation of cytoskeletal proteins in cancer cells
- Unravelling the anti-angiogenic action of temozolomide, a promising anticancer agent for the treatment of brain tumours
|
