Alison M. Michie

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.