The Cancer Drug Resistance group

Dr John Allen, j.allen@cenint.org, http://www.centenary.org.au/p/res/cdr/.

The CDR group was established as a joint initiative of the Centenary Institute and the Sydney Cancer Centre to explore fundamental molecular and cellular processes affecting the success or failure of chemotherapy for cancer. Aside from drug resistance mechanisms per se, toxicity and pharmacokinetics are part of this equation. It is predominantly basic research but with a strong translational component – one of the gratifying aspects of the work is that discoveries in the lab can often be applied reasonably quickly in the clinic to improve outcomes. Our focus is on new anticancer agents, including specific kinase inhibitors like imatinib, the anti-tubulin epothilone B, and proteasome inhibitors. We work on “hard case” cancers that respond poorly to drug treatment, such as myeloma, melanoma and prostate cancer. The projects are concerned with mechanisms of multidrug resistance including multidrug transporters, defective apoptosis pathways, and stress responses, and also with the regulation of drug resistance genes in cancer. We employ molecular, cellular and animal models. Students with a strong interest in a cancer project are welcome to discuss the options.