Dr Maya Kansara
Dr Maya Kansara undertook her PhD in the laboratory of Professor Michael Berridge at the Malaghan Institute of Medical Research, affiliated with Otago University, New Zealand. She investigated the regulation of glucose transporters in cancer. Following her PhD she was recruited to the Genomics and Genetics of Sarcoma group headed by Professor David Thomas at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, in Melbourne, Australia.
Maya was responsible for establishing and characterising preclinical models of osteosarcoma in the laboratory. These models have been used to investigate the role of WIF1 and RB1 genes, as well as to identify the components of the immune system, including IL-6, type 1 interferons, IL-23 and NKT cells that sculpt the growth osteosarcoma in vivo.
In mid 2015 she moved to Sydney to work at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research’s Kinghorn Cancer Institute, where she is currently a Group Leader in the Cancer Research Division. Here she has continued her interests in identifying new treatment strategies in osteosarcoma.
Awards
- 2015NHMRC Project grant -Targeting the PD-1 pathway in osteosarcoma
- 2013NHMRC Project grant - Translational immunobiology of osteosarcoma
- 2011NHMRC Project grant - Molecular pathways mediating the anti-tumour activity of WIF1
- 2009Best of Best Research Poster
- 2008NHMRC Project grant - Role of WIF1 in osteosarcoma CIB
Selected publications
See all publications- 2024Nature Communications10.1038/s41467-024-46001-8
Topological barrier to Cas12a activation by circular DNA nanostructures facilitates autocatalysis and transforms DNA/RNA sensing.
- 2023Oncogene10.1038/s41388-023-02864-7
Ligand-dependent hedgehog signaling maintains an undifferentiated, malignant osteosarcoma phenotype.
- 2023British Journal of Cancer10.1038/s41416-023-02311-0
A signal-seeking Phase 2 study of olaparib and durvalumab in advanced solid cancers with homologous recombination repair gene alterations.
- 2023Science (New York, N.Y.)10.1126/science.abj4784
Heritable defects in telomere and mitotic function selectively predispose to sarcomas.