🔊 Decoding cancer cell communication

Professor Elizabeth Vincan featured on Pursuit's Eavesdrop on Experts podcast series, to share how her research group were among the first to identify specific genes involved in an ancient form of cell-to-cell communication, and that if you could block them, it could provide a new way to treat cancer

Professor Elizabeth Vincan a Senior Medical Scientist and Laboratory Head at the Doherty Institute, and is internationally recognised in the Wnt signalling field, an ancient form of cell-cell communication that is highly conserved through evolution from simple organisms to man.

Wnt proteins regulate embryonic development, but also homeostasis, repair and regeneration of adult tissues. Deregulated Wnt signaling impacts on many human diseases, including cancer.

Elizabeth's research group was among a number to realise that some cancer cells always ‘switched on’ specific genes that function in an ancient form of cell-to-cell communication. And the idea was that if you could find out what these genes did, and block them, it could provide a new way to treat cancer.

Listen to Elizabeth share her story below and read the original article.

Professor Elizabeth Vincan is a member of the Centre for Stem Cell Systems, in the Stem Cell and Disease Modelling research theme.

This article was first published on Pursuit.