Our team is interested in understanding the molecular basis for cancer development and progression to enable us to identify new therapeutic targets and biomarkers. It is known that cells undergo genetic and epigenetic changes during cancer initiation and oncogenic progression. These processes have remarkable commonalities with gametogenesis (sperm and egg development, including meiosis) and early, post-fertilization development, periods in the human life cycle during which chromosomes rearrange and epigenetic reprogramming occurs in the context of high levels of cellular proliferation, changes in cellular identity/mobility and unique tissue environments.
Many of the genes that drive these developmental programmes are normally tightly turned off in healthy tissues but become functionally activated during oncogenesis, contributing to distinct stages of cancerous progression. We are particularly interested in how these factors modulate genome dynamics and stability and how they can be clinical exploited for the benefit of patients.
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