Molecular mechanisms of drug resistance in cancer

Project Details

Many types of primary tumours respond well to classical surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy. However, recurrent and metastatic tumours can be difficult to treat due to development of drug resistance.

This project seeks to understand the molecular differences between drug-susceptible and resistant cancer cells in order to discover and target therapeutic leads for improved treatment of otherwise recalcitrant tumours. We are using clinical proteomics to characterise the mechanistic determinants of drug resistance in several different research settings, including direct analysis of resected tumours, analysis of tumour cell subpopulations (with Fred Hollande), and interrogation of well-characterised cancer cell lines under defined pharmacological conditions.

Outcomes will include important pathomechanistic knowledge of the molecular dynamics underlying drug resistance in cancer, which could lead to better diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities.

Diagram - Clinical proteomic analysis of tumour cells will identify adaptive mechanisms of drug resistance, enabling orthogonal targeting of mechanistically relevant systems.
Clinical proteomic analysis of tumour cells will identify adaptive mechanisms of drug resistance, enabling orthogonal targeting of mechanistically relevant systems.

This research project is available to Masters and PhD students to join as part of their thesis.

Please contact the Research Group Leader to discuss.

Researchers

Dr Dalia Ponce Garcia, Research Officer
Ms Yunqi Bao, Masters Candidate

Collaborators

Associate Professor Fred Hollande
Dr Tom Hennesey
Dr David Bradley

Funding

NHMRC
Agilent Technologies
The University of Melborne

Research Publications

  • Mangum JE, Kon JC, Hubbard MJ.  Proteomic analysis of dental tissue microsamples. Methods Mol Biol 2017; 1537: 461-479.
  • Shnyder SD, Mangum JE, Hubbard MJ. Triplex profiling of functionally distinct chaperones (ERp29/PDI/BiP) reveals marked heterogeneity of the endoplasmic reticulum proteome in cancer. J Proteome Res 2008: 7(8): 3364-3372.
  • Mangum JE, Farlie PG, Hubbard MJ.  Proteomic profiling of facial development in chick embryos. Proteomics 2005; 5(10): 2542-2550.

Research Group



Faculty Research Themes

Cancer

School Research Themes

Cancer in Biomedicine, Therapeutics & Translation



Key Contact

For further information about this research, please contact the research group leader.

Department / Centre

Biochemistry and Pharmacology

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