Grant: CIHR Fellowship

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most common cancer in the world. In spite of detailed understanding of its mutational progression and established therapies, the average 5-year survival rate of all CRC patients is 65% in Canada. The mechanisms that control the fate of cells at normal levels are known to be very complex and still poorly understood. However, it is clear that colorectal cancer (CRC) in humans involves a perturbation of this control system that results in the production of too many cells that cannot function properly. A key player in this control system is the DNA inside each cell and certain proteins that are bound to it to form a complex referred to as chromatin. The goal of this proposal is to understand how the composition of the chromatin of normal intestinal stem cell alters in CRC. This proposal combines cutting edge molecular techniques with mouse models and 3D cell cultures that mimics CRC development to decipher novel molecular processes that regulate the production of normal and malignant cells. In depth understanding of these molecular mechanisms has profound impact on developing new strategies and novel pharmaceutical therapies to combat CRC.