Molecular defects in ovarian cancer Dr Robb Hollis Group Leader & Cancer Research UK Career Development Fellow Contact details Email: robb.hollis@ed.ac.uk Research in a NutshellOvarian cancer is an umbrella term for a collection of at least six different diseases. A huge body of work over the last 30 years has substantially advanced our understanding of ovarian cancers at the molecular level. This has led to new therapies becoming available for ovarian cancer, many of which are designed to target the fundamental biological defects driving this disease. These treatments are now directly improving the lives of patients.However, the majority of research so far has focussed on the most common form of ovarian cancer, with far less progress being made in the less common forms of the disease. My research focusses on identifying and characterising molecular defects across different ovarian cancer types. This includes molecular characterisation of samples from patients through genomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, and other molecular profiling technologies. The aim of this work is to identify additional opportunities for molecular therapies to improve the outcomes of people diagnosed with ovarian cancer, including those with the rarer forms of the disease. We also use laboratory ovarian cancer models, such as cells grown in the lab, to investigate the consequences of specific molecular defects in greater detail. This helps us identify drugs that may be of interest for treating specific groups of patients. As part of this work, we derive new laboratory models from samples donated by patients treated here in Edinburgh. This helps expand the number of models that are available for studying ovarian cancer, including less common forms of the disease. Robb Hollis Research Group (Left to right: Robb Hollis, Fiona Semple, Karim El-Shakankery, Rashi Krishna, Joanna Porter, Eve Merry, Manal Alharbi, Daniel Roberts, Ailsa Oswald, Ben King, Fiona Torres and Angela Dola). People NameRole Robb HollisGroup Leader, CRUK Career Development FellowFiona SempleResearch AssistantKarim El-ShakankeryPhD StudentRashi KrishnaPhD StudentJoanna PorterPhD Student (Co-supervised)Eve MerryPhD Student (Co-supervised)Manal AlharbiPhD Student (Co-supervised)Daniel RobertsMScR studentAilsa OswaldClinical LecturerBen KingPhD Student (Co-supervised)Fiona TorresMSc project studentAngela DolaMSc project student Key Publications Robb Hollis Research Explorer Profile Collaborations Professor David Gershenson, MD Anderson Cancer CentreProfessor Charlie Gourley, The University of Edinburgh Professor Patricia Roxburgh, University of GlasgowProfessor C Simon Herrington, The University of Edinburgh Professor Ahmed Ahmed, University of Oxford Dr Neil Ryan, University of Edinburgh International Consortium for Low Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer Professor Neil Carragher, University of Edinburgh Partners and Funders Cancer Research UKTenovus ScotlandTarget Ovarian CancerWellbeing of WomenBritish Gynaecological Cancer SocietyLow Grade Serous Ovarian Cancer InitiativeThe Nicola Murray Foundation Scientific Themes Ovarian cancer, transcriptomics, genomics, rare cancer types, human tumour profiling, targeted therapy, cancer subtyping, multiomic analysis Disease Areas Cancer, Gynaecological Cancers Technology Expertise Human tumour profiling, Molecular subgrouping and tumour biomarker studies, Therapy sensitivity, Primary patient-derived models, In vitro drug sensitivity, Analysis of archival FFPE material This article was published on 2024-09-23
