Professor Paul Timpson completed his PhD with Professor Margaret Frame at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, UK in 2002 where he assessed the interplay between Src family kinases and the actin cytoskeleton during cancer cell invasion, focusing on the role of Rho family GTPases. He then moved to the Garvan Institute of Medical Research in 2003 to work with Professor Roger Daly investigating the role of the actin-binding protein cortactin in growth factor receptor trafficking in breast cancer and head and neck cancers.

Paul was awarded an AstraZeneca Postdoctoral Research Fellowship allowing him to return to the Beatson Institute in 2007, to work with Professor Kurt Anderson in collaboration with AstraZeneca Advanced Technology Laboratories. This ongoing work has focused upon the development of novel multi-disciplinary live imaging techniques to investigate molecular dynamics of cancer cells in vivo.

Having returned to Australia to establish a research group in November 2012 within the Cancer Program, Paul aims to understand disease in the context of the surrounding environment using cutting edge in vitro and in vivo imaging technology. Pinpointing the molecular drivers of cancer progression and the environmental cues that cause resistance to current systemic therapy are the focus of his research.