Identification of novel cancer targets for immunotherapies via integrated phosphoproteomics and immunopeptidomics approaches

Despite advancement in treatment, cancer remains a leading public health burden worldwide. Our understanding of genetic alterations in cancer has been greatly enhanced by initiatives such as the ICGC and TCGA, and these have led to the discovery of predictive biomarkers and novel therapeutic targets. However, genomic profiling by itself does not reveal ‘actionable’ mutations in many patients, and gene expression can be dysregulated in cancer at several post-transcriptional levels. Consequently, multi-omics approaches involving (phospho)proteomics are required for a comprehensive profiling of cancer-associated molecular phenotypes for precision oncology. The project will focus on high-throughput (phospho)proteomics enrichment techniques to characterise changes in the phosphoproteome in both protein levels, which is important for novel biomarkers discovery, as well as Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA) peptides, which critical in the development of immunotherapies (e.g Car-T cells and cancer vaccines). In this project, the students will have the opportunity utilise and learn various immunological and biochemical techniques spanning from mechanistic and translational research, mass spectrometry and big data analyses. Ideally, this project is suited for students with an interest in oncology, immunology and precision medicine with a passion for delivering research with impact.