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Spotlight on:
Jessica Lilian Bell (PhD), Children’s Cancer Institute

Can you give a brief introduction?
I’m a research officer at the Children’s Cancer Institute on the UNSW campus. I am interested in childhood cancer causes and treatment strategies for all cancers. I am particularly interested in epigenetics and epitranscriptomics (RNA level epigenetics). I have published in highly regarded journals including the Journal of Clinical Oncology (first author). My most up to date list of publications can be found here: 

Can you describe the research funded by the Cancer Theme?
Cancer cells rely on copper for survival. We recently found that by using a drug to lower copper levels in the body, we cured 25% of mice with a deadly brain cancer. We also found that reducing copper levels in brain cancer cells also decreases the amount of a protein called YTHDF2. Moreover, higher levels of YTHDF2 protein in brain tumours is linked with a faster death in humans. As yet there are no government approved medicines against YTHDF2, however our work suggests that copper lowering drugs could be a used to inhibit YTHDF2. These drugs are already used in children with genetic diseases.

With this funding we aim to measure the pattern of YTHDF2 protein on pathology slides made from tumour tissues as well as investigate if copper depletion drugs could be combined with YTHDF2 inhibiting drugs as a novel chemotherapy strategy against deadly brain and nerve cancers in children.

How is the seed funding support your research?
Thanks to this funding, I can use the Oxford nanopore machine at UNSW to determine how RNA methylations are impacted by copper lowering drugs and YTHDF2 levels.

Are you looking for any collaborations with fellow researchers?
Yes, I am available for student supervision, grant writing collaborations and collaborative review articles on the above topics.