Research output per year
Research output per year
Research activity per year
My work focuses on using model organisms to study cell division. I have been funded by the NHMRC since 2009 to explore ways to kill cancer cells by targeting their unstable mode of cell division called chromosomal instability.
Cancers are cells that not only divide too much, but also usually divide unstably, gaining and losing chromosomes. This chromosomal instablility is not seen in normal dividing cells, so it may be an ideal chemotherapy target - something that we can affect in the cancer without hurting normal cells.
Using the advantages of Drosophila genetics, we have screened for gene knockouts that can kill unstably dividing cells, but not normal ones. We have found several ways to specifically kill cells with chromosomal instability, including targeting the JNK pathway, centrosomes or cell metabolism. We are now working to explain why unstably dividing cells are sensitive to these processes, and how we can best target them.
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Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review
Research output: Contribution to journal › Review article › peer-review