Prof Nick Leslie and his laboratory have two related areas of research. Firstly, how the loss of control over cellular signal transduction mechanisms drive the development of many cancers, with a long term interest in the tumour suppressor and lipid phosphatase, PTEN. For some years, his group has studied the post-translational regulation of PTEN activity that is applied by phosphorylation, oxidation and ubiquitination of the enzyme. Secondly, through collaborations with bioengineers, the group have been applying new technologies to cancer research, specifically using 3D bioprinting to develop new cultured cell models of cancer and also using microfluidics to enrich and detect cell free DNA in the circulation of cancer patients.