RhoA signalling as a potential tumour suppressor in medulloblastoma.

• Applicant: Dr. Dominik Herzog
• Subject Area: Molecular and Cellular Neurology and Neuropathology
• Term: from 2013 to 2014
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 244841058

Medulloblastomas are a childhood cancer of the brain and are the major cause of death due to cancer in young people. The treatment and prognosis for these children is very bad. Only 50% of them will survive and many of those that do survive will have major complications due resulting from the surgical treatment and therapy. There is a desperate need to find novel ways to treat this disease and even to avoid tumour formation. I have identified a novel pathway that may be involved in the initial stages of the disease as well as play a role in the tumours themselves. This possibility will be examined using genetics and pharmacological treatment to understand the potential role of this pathway in medulloblastoma formation with the view to find targets for novel drug therapies.

• DFG Programme: Research Fellowships
• International Connection: Switzerland
• Host: Professor Dr. Verdon Taylor, Ph.D.