Details
- Close date
- No date set
- Host campus
- Christchurch
- Qualification
- Honours
- Department
- Pathology and Biomedical Science (Christchurch)
- Supervisor
- Dr Christoph Goebl
Overview
Immunotherapy is one of the major breakthrough technologies in cancer treatment in recent years, where tumours are treated by a patient's own immune system. Nevertheless, it's broad applicability suffers from very specific shortcomings.
The protein aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) is a transcription factor that is activated by ligands. It was recently established that tumours produce specific metabolites such as kynurenine. These activate the AhR receptor in T-cells, leading to T-cell activity downregulation and causing immunoescape, constituting a major obstacle for immunotherapy. In addition, this receptor is known to sense bacterial metabolites, toxins, food compounds and others.
Although >10 000 publications describe this promiscuous receptor, it has not be studied on the molecular level. We aim to perform a thorough molecular characterization of AhR ligand binding to pave the way for future therapeutic intervention, including development of specific inhibitors and immunotherapy treatments.
This is one of a number of projects on offer for the 2024 intake of BBiomedSc(Hons) at the University of Otago, Christchurch campus.
Preferred student expertise:
The only requirement is interest in this challenging project. We are happy to accept students with various backgrounds.
Additional information
- UOC Bachelor of Biomedical Sciences with Honours
- Dr Christoph Goebl's profile
- Centre for Redox Biology and Medicine website
- Department of Pathology and Biomedical Science website
Useful information
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