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About the lab

My research group aims to understand the molecular changes that drive the development of bowel, oral and brain cancer. In particular, we are interested in the aberrant molecules that influence a person’s risk of developing cancer, the course of disease in a cancer patient, and the response of their cancer to therapy.

Cancers vary greatly in the genes and proteins they express, and their clinical behaviour. We are working to define different subtypes of cancer based on the molecules they express. Our goal is to link this to disease progression and sensitivity to anti-cancer treatments. In addition, we have a major focus on developing cancer organoids as ‘avatars’ representing patient tumours to personalise therapy. We hope this will lead to significant new insights into fundamental tumour biology and open new avenues for diagnosis and treatment.

Our mission

VISION. To transform our understanding of bowel, oral and brain cancers to improve the treatment of those affected by the disease.

MISSION. To use cell and molecular biology technologies and advanced model systems to identify cancer subtypes and to personalise patient treatment.

Impact

My laboratory’s work has elucidated cancer susceptibility variant and molecular subtypes, discovered new cancer genes and driven the development of organoid models for bowel, oral and brain cancers. Our findings have found uptake in clinical guidelines for genetic testing and led to clinical trials of cancer organoid-informed therapy.

Lab research projects

Lab team

We integrate patient cohort studies with work on pre-clinical model systems, utilising a wide range of techniques including genomics, functional and drug screening.

Our team is composed of passionate post-doctoral scientists, bioinformaticians, experienced research officers and PhD students with different scientific backgrounds ranging from cancer genetics, to biobanking to microbiology. We work closely with clinical teams from over 10 hospital partners who are enrolling patients to participate in our studies.

7 members
Dr Claire Storey
Research Officer
Shan Li
Laboratory Manager
Research Officer
Senior Research Officer
Senior Research Officer
Jianpeng Liu
PhD Student
Interested in supporting our research?

Your support will help WEHI’s researchers make discoveries and find treatments to ensure healthier, longer lives for you and your loved ones.

Contact our friendly team to find out how you can help.