Prof Vincenzo D'Angiolella, Dr Conchita Vens, Prof Anthony Chalmers
Project Description
Research Questions:
How to improve radiotherapy responses for patients with glioblastoma?
What are the genes of the ubiquitin system involved in cancer cell survival after radiation?
Glioblastomas are malignant brain cancers with dismal prognosis. Standard of care is surgery followed by treatment with ionising radiation and temozolomide. Although temozolomide leads to increased survival in ~50 % of patients, we know that the rest will not respond. Thus, novel targets and drugs to increase radiotherapy efficacy in these patients are urgently needed. We aim to identify the crucial components of the ubiquitin system required for survival of glioblastoma cells and glioma stem cells in combination with ionising radiation.
The project will entail the development of ‘ad hoc’ CRISPR screens. It will use several biochemical assays to study cancer signalling in 2D and 3D cell line models of glioblastoma. There will be comprehensive training on methods to investigate the ubiquitin system, including novel techniques and approaches for drug development. The laboratory offers the possibility to attend international courses and conferences.
For further information on the project or informal enquiries, please contact Prof Vincenzo D'Angiolella, This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
To place an application, please visit this site at the University of Edinburgh: https://www.ed.ac.uk/studying/postgraduate/degrees/index.php?r=site/view&edition=2022&id=237
When submitting your application please upload the completed recruitment form.
Papers of interest
1. Yang H, Fouad S, Smith P, Bae EY, Ji Y, Van Ess A, Buffa FM, Fisher R, Vendrell I, Kessler BM, D’Angiolella V. Cyclin F- EXO1 axis controls cell cycle dependent execution of double strand break repair. https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2023.10.26.562393v1
2. Humphreys LM, Smith P, Chen Z, Fouad S, D'Angiolella V. The role of E3 ubiquitin ligases in the development and progression of glioblastoma. Cell Death Differ. 2021 Feb;28(2):522-537. doi: 10.1038/s41418-020-00696-6.