Ms Sarah Wilkinson
Position:
- PhD Student, Prostate & Breast Cancer Research Group, Monash University
Websites:
Biography:
I am a third year PhD student in the Breast and Prostate Cancer Research Program, Monash University. I obtained my Bachelor of Science (Biomedical Science) Honours from Deakin University, Melbourne, in 2006. This project, for which I received first class honours, investigated the involvement of integrins in EMT and breast cancer metastasis. On completion of this project I was keen to stay in cancer research, and was interested in the increasing emphasis placed upon the stroma in cancer development. I chose to do my PhD with Prof Gail Risbridger as her laboratory is world renowned for research in prostate cancer (PCa), with a particular focus on stromal-epithelial signaling. I began this work at the Monash Institute of Medical Research, Clayton, then our laboratory migrated to Monash University Clayton in my second year.
During the first two years of my PhD I published a paper in Stem Cells which demonstrated the ability of the stroma to; (a) direct the differentiation of adult stems cell, and (b) trans-differentiate adult epithelial cells, both of which were from a different tissue type to that of the stroma. This was the first example of stromal mediated lineage epithelial lineage enforcement of epithelium from a different development germ layer origin to that of the stroma, and highlighted the importance of placing stem cells in the correct stromal niche when using them for regenerative medicine. Microarray analysis implicated a key role for stromal Hedgehog signalling (Hh) in the transformation process. As Hh plays a key role in directing the differentiation of epithelium in prostate development, we now want to look at the role of Hh in prostate epithelial transformation in cancer.
My current research is investigating whether active stromal Hh can intiate prostate cancer and whether the use of a pathway receptor antagonist can alleviate this phenotype.
Current areas of collaboration: Hedgehog signalling and prostate cancer.
alternative treatment, cancer initiation, cancer progression, education, end-of-life care, endogenous factors, exogenous factors, genes/genetic polymorphisms, hedgehog, localized therapies, marker discovery, marker testing, metastases, oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes, prostate cancer, signalling pathways, surveillance, survivorship, systemic therapies, technology development.
