Peter Doherty Australian Biomedical Fellowship - A Protein Family That Controls Stem Cell Behaviour

Abstract

This research aims to discover the role of a family of genes in regulating stem cells. These genes are known to turn other genes off and we have shown that this family is required to maintain stem cells in animal tissues. The current research seeks to determine which genes are normally switched off in order to maintain normal stem cells. We also aim to determine if turning these genes on leads to cancer formation.