Improving targeted therapies for hard-to-treat blood cancers

• PhD

BH3 mimetic drugs are a new class of anti-cancer therapy which are highly effective at killing blood cancer cells. However, while patients initially respond well, many patients treated with these drugs will eventually develop drug resistant disease and relapse. The student will use cutting edge molecular biology, tissue culture and CRISPR gene editing techniques to find new ways to improve the effectiveness of BH3-mimetic drugs for treatment of lymphoma.

The Kelly lab sits within the Blood Cells and Blood Cancer division at WEHI. Our expertise is in cell death and cancer. We aim to develop new therapies for patients with blood cancers that have few treatment options, particularly those with aggressive lymphomas. To do this, we use sophisticated laboratory models of blood cancer to explore cancer biology and therapy resistance. Our lab is a friendly and collaborative environment consisting of honours students, PhD students, research assistants and post-doctoral researchers. We also collaborate closely with other groups at WEHI to ensure our findings have the best chance of improving outcomes for blood cancer patients.