Grant: Operating Grant

Cancer cells can hijack the machinery normally used to control the gene activity to suppress expression of cancer-fighting genes. While in principle these mechanisms are easily manipulated with drugs, our poor knowledge of which pathways are affected in cancer has prevented us from formulating specific strategies for intervention. We have generated preliminary evidence that one such mechanisms is mediated by an enzyme called G9a. Here, we ask for funding to verify G9a as a gene required in myeloid leukaemia cells but dispensable in normal cells, to better understand its role, and to develop strategies to target it in cancer.