Top of page

Student/Staff Portal
Global Site Navigation

School research areas

Local Section Navigation
You are here: Main Content
  • coloured close-up image of a uveal melanoma in 3D spheroid

    Fluorescence image of a uveal melanoma 3D spheroid

Related Contents

Cancer Cell Biology

Our research group focuses on understanding the biology of cancer cells such as how cells grow, move, invade neighbouring tissue, respond to therapy and behave in different contexts and environments, with expectations to discover vulnerabilities and targets for therapy. We are interested in studying difficult-to-treat cancers such as uveal melanoma which is the deadliest form of adult eye cancer that frequently spreads to the liver and responds poorly to many clinically available therapies. Interestingly, other cancer types that also spread to the liver fare poorly with therapies compared to the same cancers in the other organs. Our projects are expected to build new knowledge, provide pre-clinical evidence to support clinical translation of a new drug compound or strategy to re-purpose clinically available therapies, and have a broad impact on different cancer types linked to liver metastasis or growth.

As part of the Centre for Precision Health, our research aims to:

  • Understand the mechanisms of disease (cancer)
  • Uncover new vulnerabilities for therapy and new knowledge
  • Study the functions of cancer-associated genes/biomarkers
  • Share our expertise on cell and molecular biology techniques

Group Leader

Dr Vivian Chua

Contact details: v.chua@ecu.edu.au

Research team

Dr Neha Pulyani - Research Assistant

Collaborating researchers

Professor Andrew Aplin (Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, USA)

Professor Takami Sato (Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, USA)

Professor Elin Gray

Dr. Aaron Beasley

Dr. Leslie Calapre-Beasley

HDR students

Tanveer Seeam - PhD student

Current projects

  1. Slow proliferation of BAP1 mutant uveal melanoma cells and its role in metastasis
  2. Investigating effects of fimepinostat, a dual HDAC and PI3K inhibitor, in uveal melanoma
  3. Investigating the roles of liver cells on the growth and metastasis of uveal melanoma
  4. Identifying roles of the DDR2 collagen receptor in uveal melanoma

Postgraduate student project opportunities:

For more information visit the Centre for Precision Health postgraduate opportunities webpage

Key publications

  1. Chua V, Lopez-Anton M, Terai M, Tanaka R, Baqai U, Purwin TJ, Haj J, Waltrich FJ, Trachtenberg I, Luo K, Tudi R, Jeon A, Han A, Chervoneva I, Davies MA, Aguirre-Ghiso J, Sato T, Aplin AE. Slow proliferation of BAP1-deficient uveal melanoma cells is associated with reduced S6 signaling and resistance to nutrient stress. Science Signaling. 2024;17(840):eadn8376.
  2. Chua V, Mattei J, Han A, Johnston L, LiPira K, Selig SM, Carvajal RD, Aplin AE, Patel SP. The Latest on Uveal Melanoma Research and Clinical Trials: Updates from the Cure Ocular Melanoma (CURE OM) Science Meeting (2019). Clin Cancer Res 2021. doi: 10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-20-2536.
  3. Chua V, Orloff M, Teh JLF, Sugase T, Terai M, Liao C, Purwin TJ, Lam B, Ambrosini G, Sato T, Carvajal RD, Schwartz G, Aplin AE. Stromal fibroblast growth factor 2 reduces the efficacy of bromodomain inhibitors in uveal melanoma. EMBO Mol Med 2019; 11(2): e9081.
  4. Chua V, Lapadula D, Randolph C, Benovic, JL, Wedegaertner, PB, Aplin AE. Dysregulated GPCR signaling and therapeutic options in uveal melanoma. Mol Cancer Res 2017;15(5):501-6.
  5. Chua V, Aplin AE. Novel therapeutic strategies and targets in advanced uveal melanoma. Curr Opin Oncol 2017; 30(2):134-141.
  6. Cheng H, Chua V, Liao C, Purwin T, Terai M, Kageyama K, Davies MA, Sato T, Aplin AE. Co-targeting HGF/cMET signaling with MEK inhibitors in metastatic uveal melanoma. Mol Cancer Ther 2017;16(3):516-28.
Skip to top of page