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 | Biography |  |
Extracellular influences on stem cells. The Laboratory is centred on the way stem cells, primarily brain and bone, secrete "capturing" molecules to trap the protein growth factors needed for their growth and development. We have accomplished the first isolation, characterisation and sequencing of full size carbohydrates needed for classes of sugar-binding growth factors to bind to their signalling receptors. These sugars, deemed heparan sulfates, have considerable therapeutic potential as the growth factors they potentiate are at the heart of all embryonic growth, as well as adult tissue regeneration, wound repair and tumorigenesis. We are currently working on new ways to screen these sugars in order to characterise crucial growth factor receptor interactions, as well as how they are utilized during tumour metastasis.
The applications of the work are many - for example, we are currently exploring how these sugars can be used for the bioengineering of stem cells into bioscaffolds for tissue repair, as well as their use for neural stem cell transplantation.
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