The Cancer Research UK Convergence Science Centre brings you:
In collaboration with Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, and the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, we are set to offer a series of engaging presentations that explore the significant impact of interdisciplinary research in modern science.
The Centre is delighted to announce the launch of a new seminar series dedicated to Convergence research worldwide. Please join us for our inaugural session on Thursday, 2nd of May 2024 at 11 AM BST, hosted by Professor Axel Behrens and featuring talks from:
Professor Kanaga Sabapathy, School of Biological Sciences, Nanyang Technological University.
“p53 Therapy for Sporadic & Familial Li-Fraumeni Syndrome Cancers”
TP53, which encodes the tumour-suppressor protein p53, is the most frequently mutated gene across all cancer types. The presence of mutant p53 predisposes to cancer development, promotes the survival of cancer cells and metastasis, and is associated with ineffective therapeutic responses and unfavourable prognoses. Despite these effects, no drug that abrogates the oncogenic functions of mutant p53 has yet been approved for the treatment of cancer. In my presentation, we will present our efforts to therapeutically target mutant p53. In the case of sporadic cancers expressing mutant p53, using a variety of technologies, such as mutation-specific siRNAs generated against each individual p53 mutant, we are able to target and retard the growth of cancer cells expressing mutant p53 in vivo. Moreover, we will present our latest efforts to improve the survival of LFS-mouse models.
Dr Kanaga Sabapathy obtained his B.Sc.(Hons) degree in Zoology from the National University of Singapore, and his Ph.D. in Molecular & Cellular Immunology from the Institute for Molecular & Cellular Biology, Singapore, in 1995. His post-doctoral work was conducted at the Institute of Molecular Pathology (Austria), studying the c-Jun-N-terminal kinase signaling pathway. He moved to the National Cancer Centre Singapore in late 1999 as the Principal Investigator of the Laboratory of Molecular Carcinogenesis, and since 2013, was the overall Head of the Division of Cellular & Molecular Research. Dr Sabapathy was a Professor and Deputy Program Director of the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program at Duke-NUS. Recently, he moved to become the President’s Chair Professor and Chair of the School of Biological Sciences at the Nanyang Technological University. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Pathologists (UK), and a recipient of the National Research Foundation Investigatorship award. Dr Sabapathy’s group focuses on investigating the molecular mechanisms involved in cancer development and response to therapy. His research is aimed at both understanding the molecular nature of cancer and designing effective targeted-therapies against the disease.
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Professor David Suter, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne.
“Barcode-free prediction of (cancer) cell lineages from scRNA-seq datasets”
Dr David Suter is a Swiss physician and molecular and cell biologist. He studied medicine at the University of Geneva, obtaining his medical diploma in 2004 and his PhD in 2007. Currently, he is a professor at EPFL (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne), leading the Suter Lab at the Institute of Bioengineering in the School of Life Sciences. David Suter’s lab develops quantitative live cell imaging approaches to explore gene expression at the single-cell level. His lab focuses on Embryonic Stem (ES) cells to study cell identity. These cells, derived from blastocyst-stage embryos, can either self-renew or differentiate into nearly any cell type, serving as a model for studying cell identity control. This research informs potential cell therapy applications for conditions like Parkinson’s disease and diabetes. The lab also investigates cancer stem cells, with a focus on self-renewal in pathological contexts.
Registration
To receive information about how to access this event please email icr-imperial-convergence.centre@imperial.ac.uk