Andrew Chantry

• Course Director C100 Biological Sciences
• Member of Exam Board
• Chairman of BIO Library Committee
• Member of GMO Committee
• BIO Coursework Co-ordinator

BSc from Birmingham University in 1985, and a PhD from the University of London in 1989. He was a postdoctoral fellow at Oxford University (1989-1991), and then an Alexander vonHumboldt Fellow at the Max-Planck Institute in Martinsried (1991-1993), working in Prof. Axel Ullrich’s laboratory. His first independent research group set up in 1993 at Imperial College made significant contributions to defining novel cellular pathways that regulate cell surface receptor activation and dimerisation. This led to the first evidence that transmembrane receptor kinases have specific intracellular dimerisation domains that are essential for receptor activation. Other studies have led to the identification of important cross-talk regulatory mechanisms between receptor tyrosine kinases and calcium signalling pathways. Following his move to UEA in 2000, he began to define novel links between receptor tyrosine kinases and transforming growth factor-b (TGFb), and was the first to demonstrate pathway integration between cytosolic calcium and signalling molecules known as Smad transcription factors. Recently, he established for the first time novel mechanisms for controlling Smad signalling by reversible ubiquitination, linking HECT E3 ubiquitin ligases and deubiquitinating enzymes to TGFb-dependent tumour outgrowth/metastasis.

• Senior Lecturer in Cell Biology, University of East Anglia (2000-present)
• Lecturer, Department of Cancer Medicine, Imperial College (1993-2000)
• Alexander von Humboldt Fellow, Max-Planck-Institute, Munich (1991-1993)
• Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Oxford (1989-1991)
• Ph.D. University of London (1989)
• B.Sc. Medical Biochemistry, University of Birmingham (1985)

At present, his laboratory has a translational and drug discovery focus, and has projects aimed at developing novel therapeutic strategies targeting abnormal TGFb activity in cancer metastasis, leukaemia, osteoarthritis, and fibrotic disease. 

Current research projects; 

• Novel therapeutics targeting the WWP2 Ubiquitin Ligase oncogene in malignant melanoma Novel Regulation of TGFb signalling by a protein kinase over-expressed in Breast Cancer
• A new dual therapy approach for the treatment of chronic myeloid leukaemia
• A new approach to target abnormal chondrocyte growth in osteoarthritis and the aging joint’

PhD Positions

Click here for current PhD opportunities in Biological Sciences. But feel free to email me to discuss projects outside these areas and alternative sources of funding.