Oppermann Group | Epigenetic Mechanisms in Musculoskeletal Disease

Botnar

Epigenetics in bone and mesenchymal oncology

Epigenetic mechanisms in stem cell biology

Epigenetic mechanisms in inflammatory diseases

Target discovery in endometriosis + uterine fibroids

The research in our group focuses on target identification and validation in a spectrum of human diseases including benign and malignant soft tissue tumours or hematological malignancies affecting the skeleton such as multiple myeloma, and inflammatory conditions including endometriosis, cardiovascular disease, or autoimmune diseases.

Group image — Microscopy experiment showing p53-MDM2 interactions as a red dots in breast cancer cells. Image by Nadia Halidi.

The use of chemical, molecular and structural biology, combined with single-cell imaging and sequencing technologies provides a platform for us to understand human biology and is a major focus of the group. These approaches are currently applied to identify and validate epigenetic or metabolic mechanisms in stem cell biology, as well as chronic inflammatory, malignant and benign proliferative diseases.

In particular, our aim is to identify possible novel therapeutic intervention points in malignant such as bone and soft tissue cancers like sarcoma or in multiple myeloma, and in inflammatory or fibrotic conditions including arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis, cardiovascular disease, endometriosis or uterine fibroids. These goals are pursued in highly collaborative projects, such as the Oxford-Bayer Alliance in Women's Health and the Oxford Centre for Translational Myeloma Research.

Chemical tools such as selective and cell-active inhibitors are important in understanding biological systems. We pursue the development and characterisation of chemical tools for epigenetic biology within the Epigenetic Probe Project, a public-private partnership between the Structural Genomics Consortium (SGC) and several academic, private and patient organisations.