Thomas R. Cox, Feb 2020
The Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand (MBSANZ) has just announced their “Paper of the Year” awards in the Early Career Research (ECR) and Mid Career Researcher (MCR) categories.
We are delighted that two papers from the Matrix & Metastasis lab and collaborators have been chosen for these awards
Thomas R. Cox, Jan 2020
Our recent review paper in collaboration with colleagues in Sydney and Melbourne on the role of the ECM and in particular the Heparan Sulphate Proteoglycan, Perlecan, in cancer and cancer metastasis, has just been published in Frontiers in Oncology.
Thomas R. Cox, Jan 2020
We are pleased to announce that Kaitlin Wyllie has just joined the Matrix & Metastasis team as a Research Assistant.
Kaitlin recently completed her Master of Research (M.Res.) at the Department of Molecular Sciences at Macquarie University.
Kaitlin will join our projects looking at the role of the ECM in breast cancer therapy and our efforts to develop novel targeting approaches.
Thomas R. Cox, Dec 2019
I am delighted to share the news that our two wonderful Honours Students for 2019, Yordanos Setargew and Shivanjali Ratnaseelan have both been awarded First Class Honours from the School of Medical Sciences at UNSW Sydney. Yordanos for her project on “Targeting lysyl oxidase driven fibrosis in pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma via copper inhibition” and Shivanjali for her project on the “Role of Extracellular Matrix Stiffness on Tumor Cell Response to Therapy”
Congratulations to both 🙂
Thomas R. Cox, Nov 2019
Our recent review discussing the importance, and also the therapeutic potential of inhibiting the lysyl oxidase (LOX) family of enzymes as a stromal targeting therapy has just been published in Biochemical Society Transactions.
The Lysyl Oxidase (LOX) family of enzymes
Thomas R. Cox, Nov 2019
I’m delighted to announce that Elysse from the Matrix and Metastasis Team has just been awarded the St Vincent’s Clinic Foundation K&A Collins Cancer Research Award.
The St Vincent’s Clinic Foundation was established in 1992 to further the educational and research objectives of St Vincent’s Clinic and the surrounding precinct. The Foundation provides much-needed seed funding towards real research projects for real people including medical, basic and multidisciplinary research. The Awards are given to support bright young researchers who can put their research into real-world practise to improve patient care and health outcomes for the community.
The award which was announced at the annual Sandra David Oration, will give Elysse the opportunity (and $50,000 of seed funding) to further her novel work to find new and effective treatments for breast cancer to improve the clinical care and outcomes for patients.
Thomas R. Cox, Oct 2019
We are seeking a full-time dedicated Research Assistant (RA) to come work with us. The group combines the use of 3D models of cancer with novel state-of-the-art imaging approaches to reveal how the extracellular matrix (ECM) drives cancer progression and metastasis. Our mission is to establish targeting of the extracellular matrix as a viable therapeutic approach in the treatment of solid cancers.
Thomas R. Cox, Oct 2019
Following a successful Phase Ia trial of their oral anti-fibrotic systemic LOX inhibitor, Pharmaxis are now moving into a Phase Ib multiple ascending dose (MAD) study in healthy volunteers.
This is an exciting time for the Matrix and Metastasis team as we have been collaborating closely with Pharmaxis recently in developing a pre-clinical portfolio to help build a case for potentially transitioning this compound through to a clinical trial in pancreatic cancer patients. Pharmaxis is already seeking to progress this compound in the myelofibrosis space, and so working with our team, we are exploring the potential for this exciting anti-fibrotic compound in other cancer settings.
Thomas R. Cox, Oct 2019
Working together with A/Prof Paul Timpson’s lab, we are pleased to announce that our recent review on targetting CAFs in pancreatic cancer has just been published in Trends In Cancer.
In this work we explore how different aspects of CAF heterogeneity are defined and how these manifest in multiple cancers, with a focus on pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC).
Thomas R. Cox, Oct 2019
I am pleased to reveal that our recent paper in Nature Communications was just awarded the Paper of the Month award for September by the Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand (MBSANZ).
Thomas R. Cox, Aug 2019
We are super excited to announce that our recent work in close collaboration with A/Prof Paul Timpson has just been published in Nature Communications (view the full Open-Access article here)
In this work (which was a large international collaboration), co-led by our team and Paul Timpson’s team (also at the Garvan Institute), we show that remodeling of the stromal tissue in and around pancreatic tumours may be the key to stopping their spread and improving chemotherapy outcomes.
We already know that tumours are made up of heterogenous populations of cancer cells with different mutational landscapes. Furthermore, recently, the field has begun to realise that the cancer associated fibroblasts (CAFs) present in and around the tumour are also a diverse collection of subpopulations.
Thomas R. Cox, Aug 2019
It’s with great excitement that we welcome our newest PostDoc to the team, Amelia Parker.
Amelia joins us having returned from a PostDoctoral position at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the USA. Prior to this she completed her Ph.D. in the laboratories of Professor Maria Kavallaris and A/Prof Joshua McCarroll at The Children’s Cancer Institute (CCI) in Sydney.
As a biomedical engineer and cancer biologist, Amelia is interested in the importance of the tumour microenvironment, and in particular the extracellular matrix (ECM) in driving tumour progression.
Amelia’s work will focus on the importance of the ECM in Lung Cancer onset and progression.
Thomas R. Cox, Aug 2019
Just published in Cancer Reports is our new protocol paper detailing the development of a rapid high-throughput (96wp) 3D organotypic coculture assay that is optimised for screening cancer cell and cancer-associated fibroblast response to drugs in physiologically relevant matrices.
Thomas R. Cox, Jun 2019
Congratulations to Jess from the team, who today won the Australia and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology (ANZCDB) Best Postdoctoral Poster Award.
The award was given as part of the NSW State Meeting of the ANZSCDB held at the University of Sydney. Jess’ poster presented her ongoing work developing new lysyl oxidase (LOX) inhibitors to treat pancreatic cancer.
The Australia and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology exists to promote research and education in cell and developmental biology through the provision of a dynamic framework for collaboration and support. One of Australia’s oldest Scientific Societies, the ANZSCDB supports the cell and developmental biology research community across all levels, from students to senior researchers.
You can find our more about the ANZSCDB here.
Thomas R. Cox, May 2019
Our lab has contributed to a recent paper by Zeltz and colleagues looking at the interplay between Lysyl Oxidase Like 1 (LOXL1) and Integrin α11 in Non-Small Cell Lung Cancer (NSCLC). The work was published in the Open-Access journal Cancers.
