Metaboepigenetic targeting of cancers | School of Applied Sciences

Cancer continues to be a leading cause of mortality worldwide. New multidisciplinary approaches are needed to address challenges such as drug resistance and tumour recurrence which lead to a more aggressive disease and, ultimately, treatment failure. This collaborative project investigates a new approach to potentially tackle some of these challenges.

The Project

This project focuses on the complex environment in which cancer cells exist within a tumour (the ‘tumour microenvironment’). In this environment, cancer cells can be exposed to low oxygen levels (hypoxia). Hypoxic cancer cells behave and metabolise differently. Nearby normal cells can also be ‘hijacked’ to support tumour growth and can promote drug resistance. Understanding these interactions is key to developing more effective cancer treatments.

Combining the expertise of the University of Huddersfield and the Universitat de Barcelona, the project focuses on understanding how the tumour microenvironment influences cancer development and resistance to therapies. By exploring cancer epigenetics and metabolism, the team aims to develop more effective treatments for overcoming chemoresistance and improving cancer outcomes.

Partner Institutions

• Universitat de Barcelona

  • Prof. Manel Esteller
  • Dr Aleix Noguera
  • Dr Patricia Fernández-Nogueira

International Partnerships

The project brings together the expertise of Dr Simon Allison from the University of Huddersfield and Dr Alexi Noguera and Prof Manel Esteller from the Universitat de Barcelona. Prof Esteller is a world-leading expert in cancer epigenetics with over 600 publications in this area.

Dr Patricia Fernández-Nogueira, also from the Universitat de Barcelona, has also recently joined the team, bringing her invaluable research expertise on the breast cancer microenvironment, chemoresistance and the role of fibroblasts, a type of non-cancer cell often found in the tumour microenvironment.

This international collaboration will investigate how cancer epigenetics is altered in the tumour microenvironment and aims to identify therapeutic strategies to reverse these epigenetic changes (heritable alterations in gene expression) to target cancer cells more effectively.

About the Researchers

Dr Simon J Allison joined the University of Huddersfield as a Senior Research Fellow within the School of Applied Sciences in August 2015 and was appointed as a Senior Lecturer in August 2016 and as a Reader in August 2019. His key research areas focus on cancer metabolism and the tumour microenvironment.

Find out more about Dr Simon J Allison.

Sustainability Development Goals related to this project