معرفی
Val Brunton is the Chair of Cancer Therapeutics at the University of Edinburgh, affiliated with the Cancer Research UK Edinburgh Centre and the MRC Institute of Genetics & Cancer. She leads the Cancer Therapeutics research group, focusing on metastasis, adhesion signaling, and targeted therapies for cancers like breast cancer, glioblastoma, and sarcoma.
Education:
- BSc Hons in Pharmacology, University of Aberdeen
- PhD, University of Glasgow (1990)
Research Interests: Her work investigates molecular mechanisms of cancer metastasis, emphasizing integrin-linked kinases, adhesion networks, and drug efficacy in tumor microenvironments. She develops mouse models and intravital imaging to study cancer cell behavior and drug responses, with recent projects targeting FAK/Src inhibitors and Raman imaging for drug distribution analysis.
Publications highlight her contributions to understanding IL-6/STAT3 signaling in metastasis, FAK-MEK combination therapies, and integrin adhesome in immune regulation. Collaborations span chemists, engineers, and patient-derived models.
Students and Team: Her group includes PhD students (Annabel Black, Molly Danks, Rashi Krishna, Julián Corzo Ochoa, Spyros Letsios) and postdoctoral scientists. She collaborates with institutions like Imperial College London and MRC.
Labs and Projects: She integrates fluorescence/Raman imaging with proteomics and transcriptomics to dissect drug mechanisms and tumor biology. Current projects include biomarker identification for sarcoma and refining ex vivo explant-in-chip models for metastasis studies.
