Ester Hammond

Tumour hypoxia (conditions of low oxygen) is known to be a major mechanism of resistance to radiotherapy. My research is focused on the biological response to hypoxia and specifically the level of hypoxia where radiation resistance is observed. We carry out mechanism focused studies on the signalling which occurs in these conditions, including the DNA Damage Response, unfolded protein response and changes to chromatin marks, with a view to identifying novel targets to target in combination with radiotherapy. As part of this approach we have repurposed drugs, known to be effective in hypoxic conditions, as hypoxia activated prodrugs therefore limiting normal tissue toxicity. We have been focused on both hypoxia and redox and are involved in a large collaborative effort to generate and validate novel redox probes for use in complex biological systems.