Asst. Prof. Tony Mc Elligott
Bone Marrow for Leukaemia Trust Assistant Professor in Molecular Haematology
- Research Institute:
The John Durkan Leukaemia Laboratory, Trinity Translational Medicine Institute (TTMI)
- Contact e-mail:
- Research Area(s):
Blood cancer; haematological malignancies; tumour microenvironment; cell therapy; drug discovery; myeloma; leukaemia, lymphoma; novel targets; haematopoietic stem cells.
Research Description:
The John Durkan Leukaemia Laboratory was established in 2003 through generous philanthropic contributions from the John Durkan Leukaemia Trust Fund and the Bone Marrow for Leukaemia Trust. Our research focuses on the molecular and cellular basis of blood cancers and related disorders, and the translation of this research into new diagnostics and new therapeutics. To this end, the research programme is closely aligned with the Department of Haematology, Cancer Molecular Diagnostics and the CAR-T/Stem Cell Laboratories in St James’s Hospital. The Laboratory hosts the Trinity St James Blood Cancer Biobank and is a member of Blood Cancer Network Ireland (BCNI), a national clinical research collaboration. A key research theme is the role of the tumour microenvironment in the pathobiology of blood cancers. The research group seeks to understand how blood cancer cells engage in novel associations and interdependencies with reprogrammed stromal and immune cells, with the aim of uncovering clinically exploitable sensitivities which can be targeted with novel drug therapies and immunotherapies.
Current Research areas include:
• Investigating how interactions between cancer cells and components of the tumour microenvironment mediate homing and trafficking of cancer cells to pro-survival niches;
• Targeting pro-survival cell signalling networks as novel therapeutic strategies for blood cancers;
• Immune reconstitution following haematopoietic stem cell transplantation and CAR-T therapy;
• Development of novel cell therapy approaches for blood cancers.
