Congratulations to Dr. Mark Agostino, who has received a Raine Priming Grant for 2017/2018 for his project titled ‘Structural characterization of the Wnt signalling pathway’. 

The Wnt signalling pathway is of significant clinical interest for cancer treatment. Although structures of many proteins comprising the pathway are known, structural details of their interactions with one another remain largely unknown. In particular, the structure of the activated state of the Frizzled receptor, the gateway between extra and intra-cellular components of the pathway, remains elusive. This project will use a variety of computational and simulation methods to propose the structures of the protein-protein interactions making up the Wnt signalling pathway. The structural basis of the mode of action of the Wnt antagonist, SFRP4, will also be investigated, and anticancer lead molecules based on this will be identified.

The Raine Research Committee awards Priming Grants for medical scientists and clinicians at an early stage in their research career, particularly for those who are progressing towards an independent research career to assist them to become more competitive for national and international peer-reviewed Grants.

The Grants provide funding for research into any area of medical science that investigates the nature, origin and cause of human disease, and the prevention, cure, alleviation and combating of such disease.