Professor Paul Workman’s Group is a key part of the Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery and focuses on the mechanisms of molecular cancer therapies.
Professor Paul Workman is a passionate advocate of personalised molecular medicine, and is an enthusiastic practitioner of multidisciplinary cancer drug discovery and development approaches to ‘drugging the cancer genome’.
I am a cell biologist with experience in tumour biology and signal transduction. My role within our team is to use reverse translational approaches to investigate new candidate targets for drug discovery projects, with a particular focus on oesophageal cancer.
I am interested in identifying new targeted treatments of cancer and understanding the mechanism of anticancer drugs. I set up CRISPR/Cas9 pooled screening technology in the lab, and am looking at EML4-ALK variant-specific synthetic lethal partners of HSP90 inhibitors and the sensitivity of lung cancer cells to cytotoxic NK cells.
As part of a collaboration with a Pharma partner my research focusses on the therapeutic targeting of the regulation of protein synthesis initiation. I will use molecular biochemical and cellular techniques to further define the potential for inhibiting protein synthesis initiation as a therapeutic strategy in cancer.
I have been involved in several drug development projects that discovered small molecule inhibitors of PI3K and WNT signalling. I am currently part of the project team developing inhibitors of the cancer cell stress response. My research focusses on gene expression profiling techniques to help understand the mechanism of action of compounds, molecular determinants of sensitivity and markers of drug response.
I am investigating the molecular biology of a new drug discovery target. My role is to uncover the mechanism and highlight the biological function of a target candidate that regulates mRNA processing, including new biomarkers for targeted cancer therapy. I aim to bring novel approaches to discoveries that can translate into highly effective therapeutic technologies.
I am focused on developing ways to overcome drug resistance acquired during cancer treatment. These include evaluating combinatorial therapies and targeting cancer evolution mechanisms with small molecules. I am experienced in drug target identification and verification using high-content screening. I am also developing new next-generation sequencing methodology and data analysis tools.