Prof Stephen Tait - Mitochondria and Cell Death

Introduction

Tait Stephen 055

Cell death is a key tumour suppressor mechanism that must be inhibited in order for cancer to develop. Sensitivity to cell death also governs therapeutic efficacy because anti-cancer therapies often act by killing cells. The major form of programmed cell death is apoptosis, a process in which mitochondria play an essential role. Our research focuses upon understanding how mitochondria control cell death and addressing how this is deregulated in cancer. Clinical translation of our findings should lead to improvements of existing therapies and development of new approaches to enable tumour selective killing.