Cytoskeleton and Human Disease

The cytoskeleton is comprised of a variety of specialized proteins, and is a dynamic structure that is involved in the majority of key cellular events. There is increasing interest in the role of the cytoskeleton in human disease. This volume brings together human disease states where cytoskeletal disruptions are driving disease. Our emerging understanding of the molecular and cellular events that drive cytoskeletal mediated diseases including cancer, heart disease, myopathies and skin disorders, are also helping shape targeted therapeutic approaches to treating these diseases.

Maria Kavallaris, Ph.D. is Head of the Tumour Biology and Targeting Program and a National Health and Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellow at the Children's Cancer Institute Australia. She also holds appointments as Director of the Australian Centre for Nanomedicine and Professor at the University of New South Wales. Maria has made fundamental contributions in identifying mechanisms of action and resistance to anticancer drugs that target tubulin and discovering new cytoskeleton interactions in cell division and tumor formation. She obtained her Ph.D. from the University of New South Wales and undertook her postdoctoral studies as an International Agency for Cancer Research Fellow at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, New York. She has served on numerous grant review panels, scientific advisory committees, pharmaceutical advisory boards and is a past President of the Australian Society for Medical Research. Maria is a Director of the Australian Institute for Policy and Science.