Luke Boulter Research Group
Signalling in Tissue Repair and Cancer
Section: Disease Mechanisms
Research in a Nutshell
During tissue homeostasis and regeneration epithelial cells must balance proliferation, cell death and differentiation to maintain a functional organ. In the liver, this regulation requires the constant integration of signals by epithelial cells from non-epithelial, niche cells, which includes inflammatory cells and fibroblasts. In cancer, these interactions become deregulated and epithelial cells can either be regulated independent of their microenvironment or the niche becomes permissive to tumour formation.
Our lab is interested in how the signals, which come from the regenerative microenvironment drive tissue repair following injury and how these signals are co-opted by the tumour to support cancer growth. We are particularly interested in the role of the Wnt pathway in these processes and are currently working on both canonical and non-canonical Wnt signalling to define how these pathways regulate tissue architecture, using the adult liver and cancers of the adult liver as a models for these studies.
People |
|
| Luke Boulter | IGMM Chancellor’s Fellow and Principal Investigator |
| Edward Jarman | Postdoctoral Research Fellow |
| David Wilson | Senior Research Assistant |
| PhD Student | |
|
Scott Waddell |
PhD Student (with Pleasantine Mill) |
| Mollie Wilson | PhD Student |
| John Connelly | Clinical Research Fellow |
Contact
Scientific Themes
Cholangiocarcinoma, liver, intestine, Wnt signalling
Technology Expertise
Cancer Models, Organoids, Quantitative Imaging, Pathologist