Epigenetics
Cancer cells deactivate large regions of DNA by a biochemical process called methylation. Our research focuses on understanding the process that triggers abnormal methylation and demethylation between normal and cancer cells. We have developed different methods to detect methylation changes during development and have noticed that these ‘epigenetic’ changes can take place across very large regions of DNA during cancer development. We are trying to work out the sequence of events so that we can try to reverse the process, as we believe these regions may contain genes that normally prevent the development of tumours.
Staff
 Senior Research
OfficerDr Clare Stirzaker |
 Senior Research
OfficerDr Toby Hulf |
 Senior Bioinformatics
OfficerDr Nicola Armstrong |
 Research
OfficerDr Kate Patterson |
 Senior Bioinformatics
OfficerDr Mark Robinson (co-appointment with WEHI) |
 Research OfficerDr Shalima Nair (co-appointment with ACRF) |
 Research
OfficerDr Rebecca Hinshelwood |
 Research OfficerDr Fatima Valdes Mora |
 Senior Research AssistantJenny Song |
 Research AssistantWenjia Qu |
 Research
AssistantTennille Sibbritt |
 Research AssistantDario Strbenac |
 PhD StudentZena Kassir |
 PhD StudentSaul Bert |
 PhD StudentAaron Statham |
 PhD StudentWarwick Locke |
| Honorary Researcher Dr Erik Wiklund |
Recent publication
As published in Nucleic Acids Research (see below), our lab has developed software to assist in the design and analysis of experiments measuring DNA methylation using the Sequenom MassARRAY platform. Click here to download.
For question and comments, please contact Aaron Statham ( a.statham'at'garvan.org.au).
Ref: Coolen MW, Statham A, Gardiner-Garden M, Clark SJ. Genomic profiling of CpG methylation and allelic specificity using quantitative high-throughput mass spectrometry: critical evaluation and improvements. Nucleic Acids Research 2007:10.1093/nar/gkm662.
