Transcription is a tightly regulated process, where chemical modifications initiate the duplication of genetic material. This epigenetic process is often dysregulated in cancer, but it can be targeted with small molecule inhibitors. A better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underpinning disease will ultimately help develop better drugs.
\n \n\n \n \nClinical diagnoses can be broad descriptions, but today's test results can help better understand the condition as well as target treatment. Cancer is a good example in which personalised medicine can help decide which molecular targeted therapy is most appropriate.
\n \n\n \n \nIdentifying genes that increase the risk of bowel or other cancers allows us to offer preventative measures, such as removing tumours at an early stage. A better understanding of how and why cancers grow also helps develop improved treatments.
\n \n\n \n \nThere is great heterogeneity between individuals in their risk of developing cancer, disease progression and responses to therapy. Specific single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are associated with human cancers. They have the potential to help us identify individuals more at risk of developing cancer, and better target preventative or therapeutic strategies.
\n \n\n \n \nCancer research now generates huge amounts of data, and sophisticated computational tools are needed to answer biological questions. Making sense of this variability at the molecular level will help us better tailor treatments to individual cancer patients.
\n \n\n \n \nChemical messages, or morphogens, control processes in gasrointestinal stem cells such as cell division, cell differentiation and specialisation. Cancer occurs when cell division becomes out of control and one of the key features of a cancer cell is that it no longer responds to morphogens that tell it to stop dividing. They can then gain mutations that lead to the development of cancer.
\n \n\n \n \nUbiquitin signalling is an important part of the inflammatory response. However when inappropriately regulated e.g. as a result of hereditary or somatic gene mutations or infection by pathogens, this may result in serious pathologies, including immunodeficiency, chronic inflammation and cancer.
\n \n\n \n \nPalliative care is the care of people with a progressive, life-limiting illness. Since today people live longer with a cancer or another advanced progressive disease, they often experience fatigue. Research at the bedside aims to reduce symptoms and improve the quality of what is left of their life.
\n \n\n \n \nIdentifying the switches that turn cell growth off and on would have profound implications for cancer medicine. If the right mechanisms can be found, cancer cells could be targeted specifically, resulting in more efficient treatments. Nuclear reprogramming could also enable cells to be utilized more safely and effectively in regenerative medicine.
\n \n\n \n \nCells communicate through receptors on their surface. Diseases are triggered when these finely tuned systems don\u2019t work correctly. We can now look at the signalling complexes down to the atomic level. This knowledge might help us develop therapies to grow nerve cells through a scar in the spinal cord, stop cancer from growing and spreading, or develop anti-cancer vaccines.
\n \n\n \n \nOxygen sensing mechanisms, first discovered as a result of studies on the production of the kidney hormone erythropoietin, regulate about 1000 different genes that control all sorts of processes including metabolism, blood vessel growth and blood flow. A better understanding of the oxygen sensing pathway might help us design better therapies for disorders that involve oxygenation problems, such as angina and cancer.
\n \n\n \n \nOur cells have many proteins that maintain the integrity of the DNA by repairing DNA damage and by preventing cells from dividing until any damage to the DNA is properly repaired. We aim to understand the mechanisms of action and to modify the activity of DNA repair proteins.
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