I have an interest in understanding  two major signalling networks that are implicated in tumourigensis and diabetes in humans. I am a biochemist (obtained a BSc in Biochemistry 1989-1992), a Geneticits  (obtained a  MSc in Molecular Genetics 1992-1994) and a Cell Biologist (obtained a PhD in cell biology (1995-1998 ) all from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1998, I joined the laboratory of Professor Iain Hagan at The University of Manchester/Paterson Institute for Cancer Research as a postdoctoral Research Fellow to study the role of protein kinases in regulating cell cycle progression in fission yeast. I then worked as a Research Associate with Nobel laureate Sir Paul Nurse at the Rockefeller University in New York, USA, studying the role of protein kinases in regulating cell cycle progression in fission yeast. In 2005, I became a Lecturer within the Faculty of Life Sciences at The University of Manchester, UK. In December 2009, I was awarded a Cancer Research UK Senior Research Fellowship. My appointment to Flinders University as an Associate Professor along with a Faculty appointment at SAHMRI (South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute) as part of the Nutrition and Metabolism theme commenced 2015. At Flinders University my group is a member of the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer.

Cancer Cell Metabolism Group

Target Of Rapamycin (TOR) and AMPK signalling networks are the major nutrient-sensing pathways in all eukaryotic cells. Our work aims to advance understanding of these key signalling systems, implicated in tumourigenesis and diabetes, by defining how they regulate growth and cellular metabolism in response to changes in the nutrient environment.

We primarily use human cell models to investigate these processes in a physiologically relevant context. In parallel, we exploit the fission yeast S. pombe as a powerful experimental system to facilitate the initial discovery and dissection of conserved signalling mechanisms. This allows us to establish core principles of AMPK and TOR pathway regulation, which are then rigorously tested and translated into human cell contexts.

• Cell Biology, Genetics, molecular biology, biochemistry (5)