Sharon Matthews is a PhD Lecturer at the Centre for Oncology and Molecular Medicine, Ninewell's Hospital and Medical School, University of Dundee.
Awarded the Cancer Research UK Career Establishment Award in 2008.
Career support
This Career Establishment Award - held at the University of Dundee provides exactly what any new investigator dreams of to kick start their career in cancer related research - funding for two researchers and generous support for running costs.
The support over five years will let me concentrate on establishing my career without the pressures of applying for new grants after only 24 months.
It's really given me a boost of confidence to realise that a prestigious organisation like Cancer Research UK values my research and believes enough in my potential to award me this grant.
The award scheme also ensues that host institutes are supportive of the awardees. This is really important. The medical school in Dundee has made significant investments in Immunology over the last two years - including the appointment of a clinical lead and another junior investigator. Although we are working on different areas of the immune system, we all share an interest in bridging basic and clinical research which is already stimulating new opportunities for collaborative research projects.
Research goals
Our immune systems protect us against infections but without precise controls to keep our immune system in check, things can go wrong. For example, genetic faults can cause uncontrolled cell growth and ultimately diseases such as leukaemia, lymphoma and myeloma. My research goals are to understand how the immune system is controlled by exploring B-cell regulation and to find targets for drugs to treat diseases.
Current research project
The grant is supporting my research to understand the role of a class pf proteins which control gene expression - called class IIa-histone deacetylases - in normal B-cell development and function.
These proteins regulate basic cellular processes like cell survival, proliferation and differentiation. A lot of the inhibitors of this group of proteins are in clinical use - or used in clinical trials - as anti-cancer agents against numerous haematological malignancies and solid tumours. However there are gaps in our understanding of how they work.
Only by fully understanding how these proteins regulate cell activity and interact with target genes can we determine their role in human cancer.
Career development
Obviously the next few years are critical for my research career. My goal over the next few years is to really establish myself as a successful independent investigator in the field of B-cell regulation and to begin to bridge the gap between basic science and clinical knowledge. I would advise anyone applying for this award to be ambitious but realistic!
Career snapshot
2003 to 2007 - Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellow University of Dundee, U.K. Member of Prof Doreen Cantell's research group working on identification and characterization of PKD substrates in lymphocytes.
2000 to 2003 - Post-doctoral Research Fellow BIDMC/Harvard Medical School, Boston, and The University of Washington, Seattle, U.S.A. Working on the cloning and characterization of novel cation channels expressed in the immune system.
1995 to 2000 - PhD Imperial Cancer Research Fund (now Cancer Research UK)/UCL. Research into: Mechanisms controlling the activity and subcellular localization of PKD1/PKCmu.
1992 to 1995 - BSc Medical Sciences (First Class Hons), University of Birmingham.
