Professor Ian Hart
Research Interests
Professor Ian Hart's main research themes are in: Adhesion and Integrins, Angiogenesis, Cancer Cell Biology and Metastasis and Invasion
My main research interests are in how malignant cancers are able to invade, spread and metastasise and my research programme aims to understand better:
- How tumour cells progress and spread throughout the body.
- How stromal cell modification of metastatic spread can occur.
- How cytoadhesion, both cell-to-cell and cell-to-substrate, impacts upon cancer cell invasion and tumour dissemination.
Profile
I am Professor of Tumour Biology and Deputy Director of Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary, University of London. Qualifying as a Veterinary Surgeon in 1972, I worked in mixed practice for 1 year before gaining a PhD in Veterinary Pathology in 1976. I then worked in the USA, at Frederick Cancer Centre, until 1983, returned to head a laboratory at the ICRF from 1983 – 1993, joined King's College London as "Richard Dimbleby Professor of Cancer Research" from 1993 – 2003 and then moved to Barts and The London School of Medicine, where I am now running down gently to retirement in 2011.
Among stints on several grants panels and committees, I became Chairman of Cancer Research UK's Biological Sciences Funding Committee in April 2008. My research interests lie in how malignant cancers are able to metastasise.
Funding
- Cancer Research UKTraining Programme in Molecular Pathology 2005-2010 £5,000,000
- Cancer Research UK Programme Grant 2005-2010 £565,247
- St Bartholomew’s & The Royal London Charitable Foundation Training Fellowship 2005-2007 £93,303
- Royal College of Pathologists Health Foundation Fellowship 2004-2007 £533,044
- Cancer Research UK Competitive Staff Pool 2004 £390,920
- MercK KgaA Research Contract 2004-2005 £17,873 "Cilengitide on Primary Tumour Growth"
- MRC Co-operative Group Grant 2005 £535,171
Key Publications
Tumour angiogenesis is reduced in the Tc1 mouse model of Down's syndrome. Reynolds LE, Watson AR, Baker M, Jones TA, D'Amico G, Robinson SD, Joffre C, Garrido-Urbani S, Rodriguez-Manzaneque JC, Martino-Echarri E, Aurrand-Lions M, Sheer D, Dagna-Bricarelli F, Nizetic D, McCabe CJ, Turnell AS, Kermorgant S, Imhof BA, Adams R, Fisher EM, Tybulewicz VL, Hart IR, Hodivala-Dilke KM. Nature. 2010 Jun 10;465(7299):813-7.PMID: 20535211
alpha3beta1 integrin-controlled Smad7 regulates reepithelialization during wound healing in mice. Reynolds LE, Conti FJ, Silva R, Robinson SD, Iyer V, Rudling R, Cross B, Nye E, Hart IR, Dipersio CM, Hodivala-Dilke KM. J Clin Invest. 2008 Mar;118(3):965-74. PMID: 18246199
Ezrin interacts with cortactin to form podosomal rosettes in pancreatic cancer cells. Kocher HM, Sandle J, Mirza TA, Li NF, Hart IR. Gut. 2009 Feb;58(2):271-84. PMID: 18852256
High-resolution in vivo imaging of breast cancer by targeting the pro-invasive integrin alphavbeta6. Saha A, Ellison D, Thomas GJ, Vallath S, Mather SJ, Hart IR, Marshall JF. J Pathol. 2010 Sep;222(1):52-63. PMID: 20629113
Further Publications
For additional publications, please click here.
External Activities
- Chairman – Biological Sciences Committee, Cancer Research UK
- Member – Veterinary Fellowships Panel, Wellcome Trust
- Member – College of Experts, Medical Research Council
