Vicky Cowling is a senior group leader at the Cancer Research UK Scottish Institute in Glasgow, UK (formerly Beatson Institute). Her group investigates how regulation of the RNA cap impacts on gene expression and cell functions. The Cowling lab discovered that formation of the RNA cap is regulated by cellular signalling pathways, resulting in changes in RNA expression, processing and translation. RNA cap regulation can have potent impacts on the cell by co-regulating specific families of genes with related functions, thereby directing cell function and fate decisions.
The current focus of the lab is on understanding how RNA cap formation is regulated in response to oncogene deregulation, during stem cell differentiation, neuron stimulation and T cell activation. The Cowling lab works with Cancer Research Horizons and the Dundee Drug Discovery Unit to develop strategies to target the RNA cap with the aim of suppressing tumour cell growth and immune cell function.
