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OncoLive

OncoLive is a collaborative project focused on biophysical modelling of early oncogenesis, using optogenetics, organotypic cultures, biochemical imaging, and light-sheet microscopy to study cancer-causing events in real time.

The project brings together cancer biology, biophotonics, and mathematical modelling to understand how mutant cells cooperate, compete, and shape early tissue transformation.

Optogenetics research Oncogenic signalling

Cancer Research UK funded collaboration

Optogenetic control and measurement of oncogenic mutations.

OncoLive develops approaches for controlling oncogenic events in space and time, following biochemical responses in live organoid cultures, and building quantitative models of clonal dynamics during the earliest stages of cancer.

Project pageProject overviewOncoLive | Optogenetic control and measurement of oncogenic mutations and signaling in organoid cultures for the biophysical modelling of early oncogenesis. What is it? OncoLive is a Cancer Research UK funded multi-disciplinary collaboration between Dr. Alessandro Esposito (MRC Cancer Unit – University of Cambridge), Dr. Maria Alcolea (Stem Cell Institute – University of Cambridge) and [...]Project pageScientific aimsTumour initiation is a process of sequential genetic and biochemical alterations occurring over time in a three-dimensional environment. However, cooperation and competition of cellular populations within a living tissue are also fundamental, yet not fully understood, mechanisms underlying tumour initiation and promotion. Therefore, more accurate observations and modelling of these heterogeneous cellular populations are of [...]Project pageThe teamOncolive is a strategic multi-disciplinary collaboration between Alessandro Esposito (biophysicist expert in biochemical imaging technologies), Maria Alcolea (cell biologist expert in animal and organ culture models of carcinogenesis) and Philip Greulich (physicist expert in biophysical and computational modelling). OncoLive, funded by the CRUK in early 2019, will soon recruit two post-doctoral scientists. Alessandro Esposito is [...]Project noteThe journey beginsWe have received feedback about our project ‘OncoLive’ confirming that Cancer Research UK is funding OncoLive. Aiming to reach out the broader community, we will keep you updated about our activities well in advance of peer-reviewed work we hope to publish in the future. How did OncoLive start? At the time of writing, OncoLive got [...]