This cancer-related project is related to our recent discovery that H2A.B is being abnormally up-regulated in Hodgkin Lymphoma (HL). That raised a possibility that H2A.B has been hijacked by certain types of cancers to promote oncogenesis and cell survival. HL accounts for 5.6% of haematological cancers, yet very little is known about the mechanisms that drive HL carcinogenesis. We have recently demonstrated that H2A.B interacts with the rDNA transcription machinery, and activates the expression of known oncogenes both of which could contribute to the HL phenotype. Understanding of the mechanisms of H2A.B chromatin incorporation and function in HL is a focus of current and future research projects.

This project offers an all-rounding way to fully immerse students into scientific life, as it gives opportunity to master your experimental skills, learn some of the state-of-the-art techniques, as well as find out a lot about very exciting fields of biology, such as epigenetics spermatogenesis and how it can relate to cancer.