Our lab is interested in how cells communicate with each other, how miscommunication can lead to diseases, such as cancer, and how new mechanistic insights can be applied into novel therapies.
More specifically our “Chemical Signaling” studies are aimed at elucidating how the cytokine TGF-β controls the phenotypic plasticity of cancer cells, activates cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs), suppresses immune responses and promotes tumour angiogenesis, and how we can selectively target these responses in a cell type specific manner. We combine chemistry with biology to develop novel synthetic molecules for therapeutic gain.