Caitlin Alder

I'm a PhD candidate, researching the role of matricellular proteins in pancreatic cancer. Pancreatic cancer has a characteristic desmoplastic reaction, which contributes to tumour progression and chemoresistance. Matricellular proteins are often overexpressed in the stroma of pancreatic tissues. Remarkably, the prescence of the structural protein fibronectin can alter the function of the matricellular protein SPARC. Expanding on this concept, my project aims to investigate not only the role of matricellular proteins on the progression of pancreatic cancer, but also how their function may be differentially regulated by the prescence of structural proteins, with a view to expose novel therapeutic targets.