James Moyle

• BSc (Hons) Biomedical Sciences
• Evaluating the ERG transcription factor as a key driver of prostate cancer

Prostate cancer is common and annually accounts for the deaths of >11,800 UK men. Prostate tumours are heterogeneous, and several genomic aberrations are found to contribute towards tumour development. Large-scale genomic sequencing initiatives, including TCGA, have identified at least 7 disease subgroups including the TMPRSS2-ERG fusion evident in 40-50% treatment-naïve primary prostate tumours.

Our group have developed pre-clinical models where CRISPR technology is used to introduce common driver mutations (PTEN, TP53, BRCA2) alongside MYC and Androgen Receptor overexpression into normal prostate cells to study cancer-inducing effects.

In this project I will conduct experiments that examine the effects of over-expressing the ERG transcription factor in prostate cancer lines to determine whether ERG promotes cell proliferation and activates a set of genes associated with aggressive cancer. These studies will provide pilot data to validate the importance of ERG and the justification for including ERG in our advanced pre-clinical models for the disease

Funding source: Newcastle University

Project supervisor: Professor Craig Robson