Reporting from outside the lab: attending the ASH conference

Postgraduate, Early Career, Full and Emeritus Members of the Biochemical Society can apply for a General Travel Grant. These grants support attendance at scientific meetings, training courses, lab visits or any other event relevant to your career and encourage lifelong learning. James Hillier is currently investigating the role of the aminotransferase BCAT1 in acute myeloid leukaemia (AML) development. BCAT1 contains a CXXC motif, a feature of many antioxidant enzymes such as thioredoxin that are able to metabolize reactive oxygen species (ROS). His research focuses how altered expression of BCAT1 affects redox homeostasis and how this impacts processes dysregulated in cancer such as proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. Cancer cells are known to favour pro-oxidative states that induce proliferative signalling yet maintain ROS at sub-lethal levels, therefore targeting the antioxidant capacity of BCAT1 to induce cell death, which may open a promising treatment option for patients with aberrant BCAT1 expression.