Head of the Cell Signalling Group at the Perkins Institute

Bone cancer metastasis and cardiac calcium channels

Associate Professor Evan Ingley heads the Cell Signalling Group, which has an interest in understanding the signalling networks or “information highways” of both normal and diseased cells. Evan’s Honours degree at the University of Canterbury (New Zealand) included a research project on the hormonal control of genes important for cockroach reproduction but developed an interest in understanding molecular interactions involved in cancer/leukaemia. Evan completed his PhD at The Australian National University in the John Curtin School of Medical Research (Canberra) under the direction of Professor Ian Young, working on the interaction between the cytokine Interleukin-5 (IL-5) and its receptor. For his postdoctoral studies he moved to Switzerland working with Dr Brian Hemmings at the Friedrich Miescher Institute, the flagship research institute of the pharmaceutical company Novartis AG. Dr Hemmings had recently identified the new oncogene Akt/PKB and Evan worked on its regulation through protein-protein as well as protein-lipid interactions. On returning to Australia Evan began using his expertise on protein-protein interactions involved in signal transduction to uncover novel pathways involved in red blood cell development and lineage determination. After his discovery of the importance of Lyn in erythropoiesis he began establishing a focus on the signalling pathways of this molecule and set up the Cell Signalling Group. His current research is focused on bone cancer (osteosarcoma) cell metastasis, and through a long standing collaboration with Prof. Livia Hool (UWA), cardiac ion channels. 

The control of sarcoma cell metastasis through the novel AFAP1L1 pathway.

The control of red blood cell longevity and integrity through Lyn/Src Family Kinase pathways.

Identifying new therapy options for sarcoma patients through personalized genomic medicine.

Structure/function of clinically relevant variants of the cardiac calcium channel using CRSPR/Cas9 in vivo gene editing.

Studying the magnitude of the effect of enzyme variations on the ability of young cancer patients to handle High-Dose-Methotrexate (HDMTX) treatment, as HDMTX can causes severe toxicities.