Rachel Guest Research Group

Research in a Nutshell

The Guest laboratory is dedicated to understanding the biological mechanisms that lead to the development of Cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), an aggressive and treatment-resistant primary cancer arising from the bile ducts in the liver.  Every year thousands of patients die from CCA in the UK and most receive no treatment due to late presentation.  Our group works to develop novel pre-clinical models of the disease and better appreciate the molecular signals that drive its initiation and progression.  In particular, we are interested in the link between liver injury and CCA and how the process of repair after cellular damage can go awry, leading to cancer.  We have developed new models of Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma using the most frequent mutations seen in human disease, those in the metabolic genes Isocitrate Dehydrogenase (IDH1/2).  Our experiments seek to understand how the role of these mutations in the injured liver and how the products of IDH mutation lead to liver cancer. 

• Professor Ian Tomlinson, University of Oxford
• Dr Chiara Bardella, University of Oxford
• Professor Tomoyoshi Soga, Keio University Tokyo

• Wellcome (Career Development Fellowship)
• The Melville Trust
• CRUK