Enquiries to:
Kerry Wynn-Williams
Tel: 020 76796549 (or x 46549)
E-mail:
k.wynn-williams@ucl.ac.uk
The UCL Cancer Institute hosts external speakers, prominent in their fields of study, on Thursday evenings throughout the academic year.
The aims of these seminars are to discuss a range of topics relevant to cancer research, from fundamental research discoveries to translational applications, and we hope that these seminars will become a focus of social interaction between clinicians and scientists involved in cancer research across the UCL campus.
The general format is a 40-minute talk followed by a 10-minute discussion. A drinks reception will be held after each seminar.
Thursday 23rd May at 5pm in the Courtyard Café, Paul O’Gorman Building
Dr Elizabeth Patton –
MRC Human Genetics Unit, University of Edinburgh
“Chemical and genetic approaches to melanoma and melanocyte development in zebrafish“
Melanoma accounts for 80% of the deaths from skin cancer, and incidence continues to rise rapidly.
Aggressive and resistant to chemotherapies, individuals with metastatic melanoma often have a life
expectancy of less than one year. Our research is focused on understanding how melanocytes – the pigment
cells that become melanoma – develop, divide, migrate and maintain homeostatis within their
microenvironment, as well as the genetic and cellular events that cause melancoytes to form moles and
their progression to invasive cancer. To do this, we use the zebrafish system, which allows both the
visualization of developing and migrating melanocytes, as well as their aberrant progression to
melanoma.
Zebrafish are widely used as a model organism for their developmental, physiological and genomic
similarities with mammals, their high fecundity (approx 200 external, transparent embryos), and rapid
organogenesis within 24 hours. During zebrafish development, melanocytes are easily visualized,
establishing a pigmentation pattern with approximately 460 post-mitotic melanocytes. Multiple mutations
have been generated that affect different aspects of melanocyte biology, and transgenic lines have been
generated that allow for live visualization of melanocyte precursor cells.
Due to the similar genetic, molecular and cancer pathology between humans and fish, our melanoma
progression model can be viewed as an important starting point for identifying novel genes,
environmental conditions, and therapeutic compounds that affect melanoma progression.
For further info homepage: Dr Elizabeth Patton .
Host: Elspeth Payne – please
contact Dr Payne if you wish to meet with the speaker.
Sponsored by: Thermo Fisher
All are welcome. A reception will be held after the seminar.
Past Seminars
Autumn2012 (pdf)
Speakers - Prof Laurence Pearl, Prof Stephen Russell, Dr Helfrid Hochegger, Prof Kate Vallis, Dr Ricky Sharma, Prof Gerard Evan, Prof Bryan Cullen, Prof Genevieve Almouzni, Dr Rob Klose, Prof Victor Tybulewicz
Spring2012 (pdf)
Speakers - Dr Eric O’Neill, Professor Johann de Bono, Professor Johann de Bono, Dr Mikhail Spivakov, Dr Simon Cook, Professor Alan Ashworth, Professor Wendy Bickmore, Professor Paul Clarke, Dr Gordon Peters, Professor Neil Brockdorff, Dr Gareth Inman
Autumn2011 (pdf)
Speakers - Professor Timothy Bestor, Dr Paresh Vyas, Professor Eric So, Dr Kim Jensen, Dr Eyal Gottlieb, Professor Sarah Bray, Dr Nitzan Rosenfeld, Professor Pascal Meier, Dr Martin Zeidler, Professor Chris Marshall, Dr Andrew Bushell, Dr John Stingl, Professor Jordan Raff, Professor Hans Lehrach, Dr Ana Pombo
Spring2011 (pdf)
Speakers - Anne Ferguson-Smith, Professor Nick Proudfoot, Dr M Madan Babu, Professor Dave Tuveson, Professor Henk Stunnenberg
Spring2010 (pdf)
Speakers - Taija Makinen, Tony Kouzarides, Salvador Moncada, Mark Emberton and Mr Hashim Ahmed, Hing Leung, Nic Tapon, Margaret Ashcroft, Karim Malik, Gail Risbridger, Erik Sahai, Michael Streckel
Micro RNAs and Cancer Seminar 2010 (pdf)
Speakers - Reuven Agami, Adam Baker, Carlos Caldas, Doug Hanahan, Paul Kellam, Dimitris Lagos, Andres Ramos, Stephanie Urschel, Andrea Ventura, Elena Vigorito, Yosef Yarden, Carlo Croce
Winter 2009 (pdf)
Speakers - Nicholas Wright, Richard Peto, Hilary Calvert, Peter Ell, Jack Cuzick, Andy Futreal, Caroline Hill, Peter Parker, Stephen Jackson, Ewan Birney
Spring 2009 (pdf)
Speakers - Simon Gayther, Sue Hadjur, Marianne Bronner-Fraser, Fiona Watt, Ruth Muschel, Anne Ridley, Steve Pollard, Rebecca Fitzgerald, Antonis Kirmizes, Michael Baum, Andy Futreal, Megan Cully
Winter 2008 (pdf)
Speakers - Tony Ng, Julie Cooper, Amanda Fisher, Barbara Jennings, Mark Lythgoe, Robert Brown, Julian Blow, Caroline Dive, James Brenton, Francesco Dazzi, Quentin Pankhurst
Summer 2008 (pdf)
Speakers - Julian Downward, Ian Hagan, Mieke Dewerchin, Jordan Raff, Silvia Marino, Gordon Jayson, Kim Nasmyth, Tony Carr
Winter 2007 (pdf)
Speakers - Hans Stauss, Chris Marshall, Ronjon Chakraverty, Bryan Young, Alison Lloyd, Charles Swanton, Buzz Baum, Andrew Tutt, Gareth Williams, Tariq Enver, Jane Wardle, Mike Stratton, Bart Vanhaesebroeck
Summer 2007 (pdf)
Speakers - Tim Hunt, Chris Boshoff, Kevin Harrington, Stephan Beck, John Anderson, Tim Crook, Adrian Harris, Xin Lu, Martin Widschwendter, Robin Weiss, Ron Laskey, Frank Uhlmann, Bruce Ponder
