Experimental oncology

This group is dedicated to improving cancer treatment by targeting oxygen-deprived cell populations within tumours. These so called ‘hypoxic’ cells are found in all solid tumours and are resistant to radiotherapy and some forms of chemotherapy.

Hypoxic cells are a good target for anti-cancer therapies because hypoxia is rare in normal (non-cancerous) tissues. The problem with many cancer treatments is that they target aspects of cancer cells that are also seen in normal tissues.

Areas of research include, gaining a greater understanding of how cells adapt to hypoxia and how this impacts on treatment response, identifying novel therapeutic targets associated with the hypoxic condition, using gene therapy approaches to target therapeutic gene expression to hypoxic cells and enhance treatment response and designing and evaluating bioreductive agents that are specifically toxic to hypoxic cells.