Introduction
Our lab focuses on identifying the protective mechanisms that allow developing animals to cope with environmental challenges such as malnutrition and oxidative stress.
Much of our research utilises the fruit fly Drosophila, a model organism that shares many genes with humans and has contributed to our understanding of several different aspects of health and disease. Some of our most novel and significant Drosophila findings are now being followed up in mammalian models. In one example, we discovered that lipid droplets play a critical role in protecting Drosophila neural stem cells from hypoxia and oxidative stress.
We are currently investigating the role of lipid droplets during the hypoxic growth of human tumour cells. The lab uses a wide variety of experimental approaches including genetics, confocal microscopy, imaging mass spectrometry and metabolomics.
