Professor Ashok Venkitaraman
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University positionProfessor Professor Ashok Venkitaraman is pleased to consider applications from prospective PhD students. |
DepartmentsInstitutes |
Home pagehttp://www.hutchison-mrc.cam.... Research ThemeCancer biology and in vivo models |
Interests
Human cancer cells almost always contain abnormal chromosomes, yet the connections between chromosomal instability and carcinogenesis are poorly understood. Our laboratory aims not only to understand how cells maintain normal chromosome structure and number, and why maintenance should break down in cancer cells, but also to translate this knowledge to improvements in cancer diagnosis and treatment. We employ a wide range of approaches from molecular cell biology and somatic cell genetics, to structural biology, biophysics, imaging and chemical biology.
We actively translate molecular insights from our studies to clinical practice. In particular, we participate in The Cambridge Molecular Therapeutics Programme, a multidisciplinary effort that aims to pioneer innovative new approaches for the discovery and early clinical development of small molecule drugs against cancer.
Research Focus
Keywords
Cancer sites
Equipment
Key publications
Ayoub, NA, AD Jeyasekaran, JA Bernal, AR Venkitaraman (2008).
A novel
signaling cascade promotes chromatin changes that initiate the DNA damage
response. Nature (In press)
Himesh Fernando, Anthony P, Reszka, Julian Huppert, Sylvain Ladame, Sarah
Rankin, Ashok R, Venkitaraman, Stephen Neidle, and Shankar Balasubramanian (2006).
A Conserved Quadruplex Motif Located in a Transcription Activation Site of
the Human c-kit Oncogene
Biochemistry, 45 Issue 25: 7854–60
Sangrithi, M.N; Bernal, J.A; Madine, M; Philpott, A; Lee, J; Dunphy, W.G and Venkitaraman AR, (2005)
Initiation of DNA Replication Requires the RECQL4 Protein Mutated in Rothmund-Thomson Syndrome.
Cell, 121: 887–898
Collaborators
Cambridge
Chris Abell
Shankar Balasubramanian
Tom Blundell
Mike Payne