Professor Susana Godinho
Centre Lead: Cancer Cell & Molecular Biology
Professor in Cancer Cell Biology
Overview
Our lab studies how cells organise their internal skeleton, called microtubules, which are controlled by a small structure known as the centrosome. This system is essential for accurate cell division, but in cancer it is often disrupted, for example when cells have too many centrosomes. A key challenge is understanding how cancer cells adapt to these changes and continue to grow. We investigate how alterations in centrosomes and microtubules affect cell behaviour. By uncovering these processes, our work aims to identify new vulnerabilities in cancer cells and support the development of more effective treatments.
Team
Anna Baxter
PhD Student
Dr Jonathan Burden
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Lisa Donker
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Eoin Gillespie
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Matthew Preece
Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr Wai Yiu Tse
Postdoctoral Researcher
Research
Centrosomes and microtubules are essential for accurate cell division, intracellular transport, and cell migration and invasion. In cancer, however, they are frequently altered, for example, cancer cells can acquire extra centrosomes, leading to abnormal division and increased tumour aggressiveness. We investigate how cancer cells tolerate and exploit these abnormalities to survive, grow, and spread. Our work also explores how changes in centrosomes and microtubules influence cell signalling, secretion, and responses to stress. By combining advanced microscopy, cell and molecular biology, 3D models, in vivo systems, and computational approaches, we aim to uncover new vulnerabilities in cancer cells and identify strategies to target them more effectively.
Current Projects
Centrosome abnormalities in cancer
Centrosomes are one of the main microtubule organising centres in animal cells and play important roles in the organisation and function of the microtubule cytoskeleton. Unlike most normal cells, that have conserved mechanisms to ensure that the correct centrosome number and structure are maintained, cancer cells, display various centrosomal abnormalities, such as centrosome amplification, that can promote chromosome instability and cell invasion. We want to understand how cancer cells carrying centrosome abnormalities are maintained in tumours and their impact to tumorigenesis. Because centrosome amplification can alter the secretion of proteins and extracellular vesicles, we are particularly interested in dissecting what drives this altered secretion and how it impacts cell-cell communication, tumour progression and evolution.
Targeting cells with amplified centrosomes
Developing effective cancer therapies relies on identifying unique features of cancer cells that can be targeted. Unlike normal cells whose centrosome number is highly regulated, proliferating cancer cells can harbour amplified centrosomes. To avoid catastrophic multipolar divisions, cancer cells with amplified centrosomes can form pseudo-bipolar spindles by clustering extra centrosomes into two poles. Thus, preventing centrosome clustering can be used to preferentially kill cancer cells. Our goal is to understand what drives efficient clustering in cancer cells to identify effective ways to target cancer cells with amplified centrosomes.
Microtubules in stress and repair
Microtubules are polarised polymers that occupy most of the cytoplasm and can function as tracks for motors, such as kinesins and dynein, important for intracellular trafficking, polarity, cell division and migration. Microtubules can undergo posttranslational modifications – PTMs (e.g. acetylation, detyrosination) – that have been implicated in the regulation of their structure, dynamics and motor binding/activity, but its function is remarkably poorly understood. Interestingly, microtubule PTMs can respond to various stresses, such as DNA damage, oxidative stress and centrosome amplification. Our aim is to dissect how microtubules respond to stress and how this impacts intracellular repair mechanisms.
Key Publications
Centrosome amplification fine tunes tubulin acetylation to differentially control intracellular organization. EMBO J. (2023) Aug 15;42(16):e112812. PMID: 37403793
Centrosome amplification mediates small extracellular vesicle secretion via lysosome disruption. Current Biology (2021) 31(7):1403-1416.e7 PMID: 33592190
Oxidative Stress in Cells with Extra Centrosomes Drives Non-Cell-Autonomous Invasion. Developmental Cell (2018) 47(4): 409-424. PMID: 30458137
Loss of E-cadherin provides tolerance to centrosome amplification in epithelial cancer cells. Journal of Cell Biology (2018) 217(1):195-209. PMID: 29133484
See recent publicationsMajor Funding
- 2024-2028 – Cancer Research UK, City of London PhD studentship, £150k
- 2024-2028 – Wellcome Trust Postdoc Fellowship to Lisa Donker, £470k
- 2021-2027 – CRUK Programme Foundation Award, Investigating the impact of centrosome amplification in cancer, £1,489,237.76
- 2021-2025 – Cancer Research UK, City of London RadNet PhD studentship, £147k
- 2019-2021 – EU Horizon 2020 Marie Skłodowska-Curie Fellowship CentrosoTME (GA 839075), €212,933.76
- 2019-2022 – Medical Research Council, Dissecting the role of supernumerary centrosomes-induced exosome secretion in PDAC microenvironment, £477,195
- 2018-2022 – Cancer Research UK, Non-Clinical Training Award, £198,070
Other Activities
- MRC Clinical Training and Career Development Panel Member
- Academy of Medical Sciences Springboard Champion for QMUL
- Member of the editorial board for EMBO Reports
- Scientific committee member of the British Society of Cell Biology
- Member of the American Association for Cancer Research
- Associate faculty member of Faculty of 1000
- Member of the America Society for Cell Biology
Biography
- 1999: MSc in Biology, specialisation in Microbiology and Genetics, University of Lisbon (Portugal)
- 2006: PhD in Cellular Biology, Gulbenkian Institute of Science (Portugal) and Cambridge University (UK). Investigating the role of Polo kinase during mitosis.
- 2006: Postdoctoral Fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer institute and Harvard Medical School (USA). Studying how cancer cells cluster extra centrosomes during mitosis.
- 2010: Harvard-Portugal Programme Fellow, Dana-Farber Cancer institute and Harvard Medical School (USA). Investigating the role of centrosome amplification in cancer cell invasion using 3-D cell culture models.
- 2013: Established Lab at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London (UK).
Related News
How cancer cells shapeshift to spread through the body
Researchers show how cancer cells rearrange their inner workings to squeeze between obstacles
General News 23 August 2023
Understanding centrosome amplification in cancer
Dr Susana Godinho, Group Leader in the Centre for Cancer Cell & Molecular Biology at Barts Cancer Institute, Queen Mary University of London, has recently received a Cancer Research UK Discovery Programme Foundation Award. The award of approximately £1.4 million over 6 years will support a research project that will investigate the impact of centrosome amplification in cancer.
General News 12 July 2021
Cancer cell communications
We spoke with Dr Susana Godinho, Group Leader in Barts Cancer Institute’s Centre for Cancer Cell and Molecular Biology, to find out about her recent paper published in Current Biology. Dr Godinho and her team set out to identify why cancer cells carrying extra centrosomes exhibit increased release of communications packages known as small extracellular vesicles.
Interviews 12 March 2021
Breaking down the barrier
The Medical Research Council has awarded Dr Godinho a £600,000 project grant to fund vital research on pancreatic cancer, that will investigate ways to tackle the impenetrable barrier that surrounds pancreatic tumours, in the hope of identifying targets for therapeutic intervention.
General News 22 October 2019
‘The neighbouring effect’: Centrosomal abnormalities drive invasion of surrounding cells
Centrosomal amplification, a particular change that occurs within some cancer cells, has been shown to drive the invasion of neighbouring cancer cells.
General News 19 November 2018