Vincan Lab ~ Cancer Biology

Principal investigator: Dr Elizabeth Vincan

Phone: +61 3 8344 5773
Fax: +61 3 9347 5219
Email: e.vincan@unimelb.edu.au
Room: E633

Tissue construction relies on cells having the capacity to receive cues to move and re-organise. As much as this process is necessary for embryonic development, it is also pivotal to cancer morphogenesis. Frizzled-7 orchestrates several morphogenetic events during embryonic development. Research in the Cancer Biology Laboratory implicates a similar pivotal role for Frizzled-7 in colorectal cancer morphogenesis (and metastasis). Importantly, by understanding how Frizzled-7 does this we may be able to block Frizzled-7 and offer potential avenues to prevent the growth and recurrence of colorectal carcinoma. The primary research focus of the Cancer Biology Laboratory is the Frizzled-7 receptor in intestinal development and colorectal cancer.

• Projects
• Publications
• Collaborators

The Wnt signalling pathway has b-catenin dependent and b-catenin independent [e.g. Wnt/Ca++, Planar cell polarity (PCP)] branches. FZD7 can activate these different branches of Wnt signalling in a context-defined manner and orchestrates diverse embryonic morphogenetic events. More recently, our research shows that FZD7 may also play an important role in tumour morphogenesis.

Collaborators:

National

A/Prof. Matthias Ernst, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
A/Prof. Rob Ramsay, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Drs Maree Faux and Francesca Walker, Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research
Dr Phil Darcy, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre
Dr Helen Abud, Department of Anatomy and Cell Biology, The University of Melbourne

International

Prof. Hans Clevers and Dr Nick Barker, Hubrecht Laboratory, Utrecht, The Netherlands
Prof. Thomas Brabletz, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany