Congratulations to Dr. Nouf Babteen

Nouf has satisfied the examiners in the examination for the Doctor Of Philosophy in Cancer Studies. Her Doctor Of Philosophy in Cancer Studies was conferred by the Academic Board in accordance with the Ordinances of the University of London and the Statutes of Kings College London on 1st November 2016. 

Well Done Nouf 

New Review from the Wells Lab

Congratulations to Lizzy and Katerina on their Kinase Review

New Post-Doc Joins the Lab

The Wells lab welcomes Sevil Oskay on a one year fellowship from Turkey. Sevil will expand  our PAK6 work in prostate cancer.

Paper Published : PAK4 and PDZRhoGEF in invadopodia

Congratulations to Nicole, Katerina and Michaela 

ERASMUS student joins the Wells lab

Welcome to Athanasios Niaouris an ERASMUS student who joins the Wells lab for the Summer. Thanos will be working on a PAK4 project in the PC3 prostate cancer cells 

2016 UK-Mexico Visiting Chair Mobility Awarded to Wells Lab

In an effort to increase research collaboration and strengthen relations between HEI’s in Mexico and the United Kingdom, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed in November 2015 to establish the UK-MX Visiting Chair.

The Visiting Chair provides mobility funding for a research visit of up to two weeks to visit potential collaborators in the UK or Mexico. 

We are delighted to announce that Dr. Claire Wells has been selected to visit UNAM and IPN Mexico as part of the UK-Mexico Visiting Chair Mobility scheme. This visit will promote the activities of the Wells Lab as well as the wider  King's College London research portfolio.

It will also provide  many exciting opportunities for new and continued collaboration between the Wells Lab and colleagues at  UNAM/IPN.


https://internal.kcl.ac.uk/about/International/Funding-Opportunities/OtherFunding/FundingByCountry/Mexico/index.aspx

  

Wells lab part of agrement to deliver promising new cancer drugs

A license agreement between King’s College London, Cancer Research Technology (CRT) and Pangaea Biotech has been signed, paving the way for further development of promising new drugs to treat cancer patients.

Professor Gareth Jones from the Randall Division of Cell & Molecular Biophysics and Dr Claire Wells from the Division of Cancer Studies, have been collaborating with CRT’s Discovery Laboratories to develop a PAK-targeting drug.

P21 activated (PAK) kinases are involved in cell growth/cell survival and overexpressed in many cancers including ovarian, breast, pancreatic, melanoma and lung. It is hoped that PAK inhibitors will block the activity of overexpressed PAK protein – killing cancer cells. Although researchers have linked PAK with tumour development, there are currently no approved compounds available on the market.

Under the terms of the agreement, Pangaea Biotech will be responsible for research and development of the PAK inhibitors, taking the existing compounds through clinical development. Javier Rivela, CEO of Pangaea Biotech, said: “We are excited about this partnership as it marks the beginning of what we expect to be a fruitful long-term collaboration”.

Professor Jones’ and Dr Wells’ laboratories have a long history of collaborative work with the PAK family of proteins and are delighted that their partnership with CRT has now progressed to the clinical development phase. 

http://www.kcl.ac.uk/lsm/research/divisions/cancer/newsevents/newsrecords/2016/development-underway-for-promising-new-cancer-drugs.aspx

Paper Published : PAK4 and RhoU regulate adhesions

 

Anna E. Dart, 

Gary M. Box, 

William Court, 

Madeline E. Gale, 

John P. Brown, 

Sarah E. Pinder,

Suzanne A. Eccles, 

and Claire M. Wells

PAK4 promotes kinase-independent stabilization of RhoU to modulate cell adhesionJ Cell Biol 2015 211:863-879. Published November 23, 2015,doi:10.1083/jcb.201501072