Predicting tumour evolution, immune surveillance and editing using integromic classification of the tumour microenvironment
- Research Opportunity
- Honours students, Master of Biomedical Science
- Number of Honour Places Available
- 1
- Number of Master Places Available
- 1
- Department / Centre
- Clinical Pathology
- Location
- Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC)
Primary Supervisor | Number | Webpage | |
---|---|---|---|
Associate Professor Daniel Buchanan | daniel.buchanan@unimelb.edu.au | 85597004 | Personal web page |
Co-supervisor | Number | Webpage | |
---|---|---|---|
Dr Ryan Hutchinson | ryan.hutchinson@unimelb.edu.au | 8559 7112 | Personal web page |
Dr Khalid Mahmood | khalid.mahmood@unimelb.edu.au |
Summary This project aims to identify tumour microenvironment signatures that predict immune-surveillance, immune-editing, tumour evolution and whether these signatures increase the risk of developing recurrence andor metastases.
Project Details
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a biologically heterogeneous disease with distinct molecular subtypes defined by genomic and epigenomic changes that translate into divergent clinical outcomes1. CRC is also one of the most preventable cancers as it normally arises from benign neoplasms, and this polyp-tumour progression is a multistep process, likely occurring over many years2. There are currently four proposed theories of cancer evolution, however, all of these cancer evolution theories have a common theme, in that they are tumour cell-centric and do not consider the role of immune pressure from Darwinian selection. In recent years, the immune contexture within the tumour microenvironment (TiME) has been shown to have increasing importance for both tumour-promoting and tumour suppressive effects. Galon et al. has demonstrated in cohorts of primary CRCs that the phenotype, localisation and density of effector T cells was associated with prognosis, thus creating the Immunoscore3. What is currently lacking is an understanding of the interplay between tumour cells and immune cells and whether these temporal-spatial relationships determine the future behaviour of the tumour. This project aims to identify TiME signatures that depicts intra-tumoural heterogeneity, predicts immune-surveillance, immune-editing, and tumour evolution and whether these signatures increase the risk of developing recurrence and/or metastases.
Techniques : This project involves histopathological evaluation and genomic sequencing of colorectal polyps, cancers and paired metastasis samples to decipher the TiME involved with progression, local recurrence and metastasis. You will perform deep analysis of the TiME by immunohistochemistry, computational pathology, quantification and multi-plexed spectral imaging to understand the relationship between genomics and phenomics of the pre-malignant, primary CRC and paired recurrent lesions.
Faculty Research Themes
School Research Themes
Research Opportunities
Honours students, Master of Biomedical Science
Students who are interested in joining this project will need to consider their elegibility as well as other requirements before contacting the supervisor of this research
Key Contact
For further information about this research, please contact a supervisor.
Department / Centre
Research Node
Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre (VCCC)MDHS Research library
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