Our research seeks to understand how cancer cells maintain genome integrity and how defects in DNA repair can be exploited to develop more effective and selective cancer treatments. We investigate the molecular mechanisms that underpin DNA damage responses, DNA repair and replication stress, with a particular emphasis on synthetic lethal interactions and the discovery of novel inhibitors of DNA repair proteins, including the MRE11 nuclease.
We also study the mechanisms of action and resistance of widely used anticancer drugs, including gemcitabine and topoisomerase inhibitors, with the aim of improving their clinical effectiveness through rational combination therapies. By integrating molecular biology, biochemistry, functional genomics and translational research, we seek to identify new therapeutic targets and biomarkers that will enable more precise, personalised treatment strategies for patients with cancer.
We welcome applications from self funding students to work on the following projects:
- Exploiting synthetic lethality for cancer treatment: improving the activity and specificity of novel MRE11 inhibitors
- Exploiting radiotherapy-induced chemosensitisation to improve bladder-sparing cancer therapy
- Resetting the lifespan clock: Investigating DNA repair during meiosis in Schizosaccharomyces. pombe