Dr Peter Thorpe

Peter Thorpe

Senior Lecturer in Biochemistry
Deputy Dean for Research - Impact and Industrial Engagement

School of Biological and Behavioural Sciences
Queen Mary University of London
www.qmul.ac.uk/sbbs/staff/peterthorpe.html
Centre for Molecular Cell Biology
Centre for Evolutionary and Functional Genomics
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Research

cell division, chromosome segregation, kinetochore, cell cycle

Interests

We perform research to understand the regulation of cell division. Cell division is the process that creates new cells to replace aged or damaged tissues in our body, however, uncontrolled cell division is the defining characteristic of cancer. We aim to determine how cell division is regulated to allow us to control this process. The ultimate aim is to be able to regulate cell division as a treatment for cancer and to promote cell division of stem cells for regenerative medicine.

A central hypothesis of our work is that the position of proteins within the cell controls cell division. We place normal proteins in different locations within the cell, next to new partner proteins, and test the effect upon cell division. Some of the resulting changes promote cell division, while others block it. We then use this knowledge to understand both how the normal process of cell division is controlled and how it may be manipulated, for example in cancer therapy.

For more information see our lab website www.thorpelab.org