Lauren Brown

I am a postdoctoral researcher currently working under the supervision of Associate Professor Paul Ekert in the Translational Tumour Biology research group at Children's Cancer Institute. I also hold an appointment as Conjoint Associate Lecturer at UNSW. The Translational Tumour Biology are a part of the Personalised Medicine theme at Children's Cancer Institute, meaning we have access to molecular data and primary samples from patients enrolled in the Zero Childhood Cancer Program (ZERO). ZERO is Australia's first precision medicine clinical trials for paediatric patients with high risk or relapsed cancers. These data and samples are an invaluable resource and guide our research to investigate novel mechanisms of oncogenesis and can potentially influence treatment approaches for patients with difficult to treat cancers. My key area of interest is oncogenic signal transduction. I use basic biology techniques to understand how specific molecular aberrations function to drive cancer and how these dependencies can be exploited for therapy. I completed my PhD at The University of Melbourne in 2019 which focussed on exploring the biological function and therapeutic targeting of tyrosine kinase fusion genes in paediatric acute lymphoblastic leukaemia. I have expertise in signal transduction, kinase signalling and apoptosis and possess a broad range of molecular and cellular biology technical skills. We currently have a range of honours and PhD projects available within the Translational Tumour Biology group for prospective students. I am currently available to co-supervise students with Associate Professor Paul Ekert (Please see My Research Supervision for project details) Cancer Cell Biology, Molecular Targets, Signal Transduction