Accepting PhD Students

PhD projects

Victoria Heath is interested in the molecular regulation of angiogenesis. Her work is focused on identifying the roles of various endothelial expressed signalling molecules in endothelial cell biology and in the development of new blood vessels. She is interested in determining the role of novel endothelial expressed genes in endothelial cell biology and angiogenesis. Angiogenesis, the development of new blood vessels, plays a critical role in tumour growth and metastasis as well as in diseases such as atherosclerosis. A current interest of our group is to determine the biological role of RhoJ, a small Rho GTPase, in endothelial cells. This gene, which is closely related to Cdc42, is highly and specifically expressed in endothelial cells and is involved in regulating endothelial cell movement and in vitro tube formation. We have identified the binding partners of RhoJ and are continuing to explore the molecular regulation of this Rho GTPase and its role in various models of angiogenesis in vivo. In addition we have identified some novel cell surface proteins involved in angiogenesis and are determining their molecular function and role in vessel formation.

Dr Heath is interested in supervising doctoral research on the role of the Rho GTPase RhoJ as well other endothelial expressed genes in angiogenesis.