Voss Lab: Chromatin modifications in development and disease

My work focuses on a number of proteins that are critical for embryonic development as well as stem cell development and function. They are subject to genetic mutations, which cause leukaemia, solid tumours and birth defects.

These important proteins affect the manner, in which the genetic material is packaged in the cell nucleus. They have far-reaching consequences for the function of the genome, which is finely tuned during healthy development and adult life, but abnormal in cancer and other diseases.

We are investigating how these proteins function in health and disease.

The Voss lab has a long-term interest in understanding the epigenetic regulation of embryonic development and in particular has characterised the function of histone acetyltransferases. These chromatin modifiers are important regulators of development and disease and deregulated in cancer.

Together with the https://www.wehi.edu.au/laboratory/thomas-lab-developmental-genetics/, Thomas lab, the Voss lab completed a drug discovery project, developing acetyltransferase inhibitors and a new class of anti-cancer therapeutics. More recently, the Voss lab has focussed on modelling chromatin-based intellectual disability to discover ameliorating treatments.