Positions for Postdoctoral Scientists & PhD students
Paterson Institute for Cancer Research, Manchester Cancer Research Centre, University of Manchester, UK

Paterson/Manchester Cancer Research Centre is a growing cancer research institute and Manchester is getting the second biggest city in UK, attracting young people to live.

Postdoctoral Scientists and PhD student positions are available in the laboratory of Dr Akira Orimo to study functional roles of tumour microenvironment in human carcinomas. This group is interested in elucidating molecular mechanisms by which tumour microenvironment promotes carcinoma cell growth and invasion, especially, focusing on myofibroblasts, which are a hallmark of activated fibroblasts. Indeed, numbers of these myofibroblasts are very often recruited into invasive human epithelial carcinomas and involved in tumour progression.
It was previously demonstrated that a large population of myofibroblasts, designated carcinoma-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), present within invasive human breast carcinomas exhibited an ability to promote carcinoma growth and angiogenesis. Thus, myofibroblast-secreted stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF-1)/CXCL12 chemokine mediated, in part, the tumour-promoting ability of these myofibroblasts by recruiting endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) into tumour, boosting angiogenesis (Orimo A. et al, Cell, 121, 335-348, 2005; Orimo A. and Weinberg R.A., Cell Cycle, 5, 1597-1601, 2006).

The project will be to study myofibroblast-tumour cell interaction in several aspects as outlined below:
1) Molecular mechanisms that govern the unique properties of myofibroblastic CAFs.
2) Involvement of CAFs in enhancing tumour metastasis.
3) Roles of CAFs in creating the stem cell niche of “tumour-initiating cells”.
The ultimate aim would be to find out an attractive target for the development of anti-tumour therapies based on disturbing the myofibroblast-tumour cell interactions.

Informal enquiries please contact Dr Akira Orimo via email on aorimo@picr.man.ac.uk

Applying to the PhD course, please refer the following web sites.
http://www.paterson.man.ac.uk/education/index.stm
Paterson 4 Y PhD studentship main website (>99% applications)
http://www.medicine.manchester.ac.uk/cancerstudies/graduatestudy/
More local site although changing to School site in near future
http://www.medicine.manchester.ac.uk/
General information Postgraduate Research =PGR
http://www.mhs.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/
Faculty information
http://www.mhs.manchester.ac.uk/postgraduate/research/training/
PhD Training programme other than lab work - probably the best in the UK!

To apply for this position please visit our website (www.paterson.man.ac.uk.). For applicants who are unable to download this information, please contact Laura Humes (HR Assistant) on 0161 446 3124 or email: lhumes@picr.man.ac.uk to have this information sent by post.