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Organoid-based discovery of new drug combinations for bowel cancer

Project type

  • Masters
  • PhD

Project details

Despite increasing therapy options, bowel cancer remains the second leading cause of cancer death in Australia. A major problem is that most tumours rapidly develop resistance to any given treatment. Organoid technology, the ability to grow patient tumour tissue in the laboratory, offers an opportunity to develop new, more effective drug combinations.

This project will utilise high-throughput drug screening on patient-derived cancer organoids to discovery new synergistic combination treatments for bowel cancer. Lead candidates will be validated using complementary models and characterised for molecular mechanisms to support the rationale for taking these forward in clinical trials.

About our research group

Our laboratory focuses on understanding the biology of human cancers, including bowel, oral and brain tumours, with the aim to develop new treatments for patients. We have a particular interest in applying organoid technology in clinical diagnostics and drug discovery.

We integrate patient cohort studies with work on pre-clinical model systems, utilising a wide range of techniques including genomics, functional and drug screening. Depending on interests and skills, students in the laboratory are encouraged and supported in learning both the techniques to generate new data, as well as the computational tools to analyse and interpret the results.

Our team is composed of passionate post-doctoral scientists, experienced research officers and PhD students with different scientific backgrounds which promotes collaboration and constructive discussions on the different projects.

Education pathways