Hayley Sharpe
We are interested in understanding how the cells that make up our tissues and organs communicate. Our cells are decorated with proteins, or receptors, that can sense alterations in their local environment and promote signalling pathways leading to changes in behaviour such as growth, movement or attachment. We focus on receptors that communicate to the cell interior through an enzyme known as a protein phosphatase. These receptor tyrosine phosphatases can change the function of other proteins by catalysing the removal of phosphate groups. The principles of how these receptors contribute to signalling remain poorly understood.
The receptor tyrosine phosphatases are linked to diverse areas of biology from immune cell signalling to blood vessel development to cell-cell adhesion, with some implicated in disease processes such as spinal cord injury, wound healing and cancer. Importantly, protein tyrosine phosphatases are targets of reactive oxygen species, which serve as critical signalling molecules that can be dysregulated in ageing and disease. To understand the normal and pathological functions of phosphatases we use biochemistry, proteomics, primary and cancer cell lines, as well as mouse models.
Latest Publications
The receptor PTPRU is a redox sensitive pseudophosphatase. Nature communications, 11, 1, 26 Jun 2020 PMID: 32591542 |
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The dead phosphatases society: a review of the emerging roles of pseudophosphatases. The FEBS journal, 1, 1, 02 Jun 2020 PMID: 32484316 |
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Vismodegib resistant mutations are not selected in multifocal relapses of locally advanced basal cell carcinoma after vismodegib discontinuation. Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology : JEADV, , 1468-3083, 2019 PMID: 31187903 |