Cancer and Cell Signalling
Led by Dr Toby Phesse, this research group investigates the requirement of cell signaling during homeostasis, regeneration and cancer.
There is a focus on Wnt signalling and the gastrointestinal tract, to identify novel therapeutic targets and strategies for the treatment of cancer. Dr Phesse's primary research interest is in understanding how cell signalling controls homeostasis, regeneration, stem cell function and disease, with a focus on Wnt signalling in the gastrointestinal tract. Many of the cell signalling pathways that are critical for embryonic development, homeostasis and regeneration of epithelial tissues are deregulated during disease, particularly in cancer.
By understanding the molecular events that regulate cell signalling during these biological processes, and the aberrations that result in deregulation and disease, Dr Phesse aims to identify novel therapeutic strategies.
The research group uses a combination of advanced ex vivo techniques, such as organoid cultures, together with sophisticated mouse models, to gain new insights into the requirement for cell signalling during the biology of the adult gastrointestinal epithelium, and thus understand how deregulated signalling promotes cancer initiation and progression.
Group lead
Honorary Appointment at University of Melbourne, Australia
- Professor Elizabeth Vincan, Co-lab head
- Dr Dustin Flanagan, Postdoctoral Fellow