Anjali Arora
Post-doctoral Fellow
Research interests
As tumour cells proliferate and form large masses, they often create a hypoxic core due to limited oxygen supply. Under these conditions, cancer cells rely on specific biological processes to sustain their growth and survival. Notably, the cellular response to hypoxia varies depending on the severity and duration of oxygen deprivation. Recognising the factors that help cancer cells adapt to hypoxia is crucial, as targeting these vulnerabilities could lead to new treatment options. My current research focuses on the crosstalk of hypoxia-sensitive response pathways and signalling from the tumour suppressor protein p53. We aim to characterise the influence of this crosstalk in the initiation and progression of cancer and the patient's response to therapies.
background
I completed my doctoral training at the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, India, followed by postdoctoral appointments at the Centre for Cancer Drug Discovery at the Institute of Cancer Research, London, and the Department of Oncology at the University of Oxford. Throughout my research career, I have taken advantage of numerous opportunities to gain expertise in discovery-based and targeted proteomics, sequencing technologies (including single-cell and bulk RNA transcriptomics), high-throughput compound library screening, clinical statistics, and bioinformatics.
At the Department of Oncology, I studied hypoxia response in two-dimensional (2D) and three-dimensional (3D) cellular models of breast cancer. I uncovered new players involved in chronic hypoxia adaptation by employing multi-omics approaches. I also secured independent small grants as a principal investigator to generate breast cancer organoids (through the MSIF at Oxford University) and collaborated as a co-investigator on a project examining extracellular matrix (ECM) proteomics of young and aged normal breast tissue to develop 3D models of ageing using bioengineering approaches (ECMAge network, UK). These projects provided multiple opportunities to network and foster new interdisciplinary ideas.