Iron Metabolism and Chelation Program

Lab head: Des Richardson
Location: Level 5, Blackburn Building D06

Iron is essential for life and growth. While it is well known that iron deficiency can lead to anaemia it is generally not appreciated that iron is critical for the growth of all cells, particularly cancer cells. The Iron Metabolism and Chelation Program is concerned with understanding the basic processes of how tumour cells utilise and transport iron. This knowledge will lead to the development of therapies that can selectively starve tumour cells of iron and inhibit their growth. In addition, we are studying the mechanisms involved in iron loading in the inherited diseases I²-thalassaemia and Friedreich's ataxia.

Lab members: D Richardson (head), C Austin (pfellow), K Dixon (pfellow), P Jansson (pfellow), D Kalinowski (pfellow), D Lane (pfellow), K Loh (pfellow), D Lovejoy (pfellow), P Quach (pfellow), Y Suryo Rahmanto (pfellow), D Zhang (pfellow), Yu Yu (pfellow)

Molecular regulation of ERp29 in epithelial cancer cell plasticity

Primary supervisor: Daohai Zhang

Supervisors: Prof Des Richardson, Dr Daohai Zhang

 Endoplasmic reticulum protein 29 (ERp29) is a novel molecule that induces epithelial-mesenchymal reverse transition and epithelial cell morphogenesis. Epithelial cell phenotype is characterized by the formation of tight junctions and apical-basal polarity. This project aims to understand the functions and molecular mechanisms of ERp29 in establishing epithelial architecture in cancer cells. A variety of techniques that will be used include cell cultures, 3-dimensional cell system, reverse-transcriptional-PCR, Western blotting, immunofluorescent staining, protein-protein interaction, gene knockdown, etc . This study is important for understanding the pathological function of ERp29 as a novel tumour suppressive molecule and for developing novel therapeutics targeting ERp29 and its downstream signaling.

Discipline: Pathology
Co-supervisors: Des Richardson
Keywords: Cancer, Cell biology, cellular signalling
Contact: Email Daohai Zhang