Welcome to the Harbour Lab
Eye Cancer
Human Cancer Cells
Micro Array Genomics
Welcome
Our lab is interested in studying two tumor suppressor pathways that are frequently mutated in cancer cells. The retinoblastoma protein (Rb) is deleted in the hereditary eye cancer retinoblastoma. Rb is also mutated or functionally inactivated in most human cancers. The tumor suppressor activity of Rb derives from its important roles in cell cycle regulation, differentiation, senescence and apoptosis. The p53 tumor suppressor acts as a surveillance checkpoint with both afferent functions (detection of oncogenic cellular abnormalities) and efferent functions (induction of cell cycle arrest or apoptosis).
The other major interest in our lab is to investigate the relationship between the phenotypes of specific cancers and the developmental imprint of the derivative cell type. We are currently using melanoma as a model for these studies.