The main focus of Dr. Michie’s research group is to determine the cellular and molecular mechanisms that underlie the initiation and progression of chronic lymphocytic leukaemia (CLL), with a view to identifying novel targets for therapeutic intervention. In addition to developing a CLL-like mouse model that offers great potential for translational research, resembling a model of progressive CLL, Dr. Michie’s group have established in vitro culture systems to replicate the pro-survival and pro-proliferative signals present in CLL patient lymph node (LN) microenvironment to assess the utility of targeted therapies for CLL. Combining these powerful experimental approaches provide a cohesive translational platform to enable full in vitro and in vivo characterisation of novel targets/therapies, delineating the microenvironmental signals that regulate survival/ chemoresistance mechanisms that contribute towards CLL progression.
