A postgraduate research opportunity at the University of Otago.
Details
- Close date
- Thursday, 23 February 2023
- Academic background
- Sciences, Health Sciences
- Host campus
- Dunedin
- Qualifications
- Honours, Master’s, Postgraduate Diploma
- Department
- Pathology (Dunedin)
- Supervisors
- Dr Cath Drummond, Dr Glen Reid
Overview
Molecularly targeted therapies have improved survival for patients with tumours such non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that harbour driver mutations in key oncogenes such as EGFR or KRAS. However, although responses to these agents are dramatic, they are invariably short lived, and relapse is inevitable.
We hypothesize that paracrine signaling from cancer cells undergoing apoptosis promotes the emergence of stem cell-like drug tolerant persisters (DTPs) - cells that survive in the patient during therapy.
This project will use a co-culture model of DTPs in NSCLC to determine how signaling from apoptotic cancer cells contributes to stem-cell like phenotypes in DTPs.
