Research Interests

Platinum-based chemotherapy

Ovarian cancer stem cell like side populations are enriched following chemotherapy and overexpress EZH2

Platinum-based chemotherapy, with cytoreductive surgery, is the cornerstone of treatment of advanced ovarian cancer, however acquired drug resistance is a major clinical obstacle.  It has been proposed that subpopulations of tumour cells with stem-cell like properties, such as so-called side populations (SP) which over-express ABC drug-transporters, can sustain the growth of drug resistant tumour cells, leading to tumour recurrence following chemotherapy.

Wnt pathway 

Systematic CpG Islands Methylation Profiling of Genes in the Wnt Pathway in Epithelial Ovarian Cancer Identifies Biomarkers of Progression-Free Survival

The Wnt pathways control key biological processes that potentially impact on tumour progression and patient survival. We are evaluating DNA methylation at promoter CpG islands (CGIs) of Wnt pathway genes in ovarian tumours at presentation and identify biomarkers of patient progression-free survival.