The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research

Associate Professor Jane Visvader

Details

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Division: Molecular Genetics of Cancer

Research Overview

The VBCRC Laboratory Overview

Our laboratory is interested in identifying transcriptional regulators that govern mammary gland development and whose perturbation leads to breast cancer.

By studying normal and malignant breast epithelial cells, our long-term goal is to identify markers and potential therapeutic targets against breast cancer.

The Victorian Breast Cancer Research Consortium Laboratory is jointly headed by Associate Professor Geoff Lindeman

Laboratory Information

Research Projects

The identification and characterisation of normal stem and progenitor cells in breast tissue and cancer stem cells

Role of the GATA-3 transcription factor, a defining marker of the luminal subtypes of breast cancer, in the mammary gland

LMO4, a cofactor which interacts with the breast tumour suppressor BRCA1. High levels of LMO4 promote cellular proliferation and invasion and predict poor outcome in breast cancer

SOCS genes, which are negative regulators of prolactin and other cytokine signalling pathways in the breast

Major Publications

1. Lim E, Vaillant F, Wu D, Forrest NC, Pal B, Hart AH, Asselin-Labat ML, Gyorki DE, Ward T, Partanen A, Feleppa F, Huschtscha LI, Thorne HJ; kConFab, Fox SB, Yan M, French JD, Brown MA, Smyth GK, Visvader JE, Lindeman GJ.
   Aberrant luminal progenitors as the candidate target population for basal tumor development in BRCA1 mutation carriers.
   Nat Med. 2009 Aug;15(8):907-13. Epub 2009 Aug 2. PMID: 19648928 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
2. Visvader JE, Lindeman GJ.
   Cancer stem cells in solid tumours: accumulating evidence and unresolved questions.
   Nat Rev Cancer. 2008 Oct;8(10):755-68. Epub 2008 Sep 11. Review.
   PMID: 18784658 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
3. Visvader JE and Lindeman GJ. (2008)
   Cancer Stem Cells in solid tumours: accumulating evidence and unresolved questions.
   Nature Reviews Cancer. 8(10), 755-68. (IF 29.2; citations 5)
4. Barker HE, Smyth GK, Wettenhall J, Ward TA, Bath ML, Lindeman GJ, Visvader JE. (2008)
   Deaf-1 regulates epithelial cell proliferation and side-branching in the mammary gland.
   BMC Dev Biology. 8, 94.
5. Asselin-Labat M-L, Vaillant F, Shackleton M, Bouras T, Lindeman GJ, Visvader JE.
   Delineating the epithelial hierarchy in the mouse mammary gland. (2008) Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology. Vol LXXIII.
   Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press pp1-10.
6. Visvader JE and Lindeman GJ. (2008)
   Cancer Stem Cells in solid tumours: accumulating evidence and unresolved questions.
   Nature Reviews Cancer. 8(10), 755-68.
7. Oakes SR, Naylor MJ, Asselin-Labat M, Blazek KD, Kazlauskas M, Pritchard MA, Chodosh LA, Pfeffer PL, Lindeman GJ, Visvader JE, Ormandy CJ. (2008)
   The Ets transcription factor Elf5 specified mammary alveolar cell fate.
   Genes Dev. 22(5), 581-586. (IF 14.8; Citations 4)
8. Vaillant F, Asselin-Labat M-L, Shackleton M, Forrest NC, Lindeman GJ, Visvader JE. (2008)
   The mammary progenitor marker CD61/b3-integrin identifies cancer stem cells in mouse models of mammary tumorigenesis.
   Cancer Research. 68(19), 7711-7. (IF 7.7; Citations 3)
9. Bouras T, Pal B, Vaillant F, Harburg G, Asselin-Labat M-L, Oakes SR, Lindeman GJ, Visvader JE. (2008)
   Notch signaling regulates mammary stem cell function and luminal cell fate commitment.
   Cell Stem Cell. 3(4), 429-41.
10. Asselin-Labat ML, Sutherland KD, Barker H, Thomas R, Shackleton M, Forrest NC, Hartley L, Robb L, Grosveld FG, van der Wees J, Lindeman GJ, Visvader JE.
    Gata-3 is an essential regulator of mammary-gland morphogenesis and luminal-cell differentiation.
    Nat Cell Biol. 2007 Feb;9(2):201-9 PMID: 17187062 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
11. Visvader JE, Lindeman GJ.
    Mammary stem cells and mammopoiesis.
    Cancer Res. 2006 Oct 15;66(20):9798-801 PMID: 17047038 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
12. Asselin-Labat ML, Shackleton M, Stingl J, Vaillant F, Forrest NC, Eaves CJ, Visvader JE, Lindeman GJ.
    Steroid hormone receptor status of mouse mammary stem cells.
    J Natl Cancer Inst. 2006 Jul 19;98(14):1011-4 PMID: 16849684 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Current Laboratory Members

Faculty Member: Jane Visvader, BSc(Hons) PhD Adelaide

Faculty Member: Geoff Lindeman, BSc(Med) Syd FRACP MB BS(Hons) Syd PhD Melb

Senior Postdoctoral Fellow: Marie-Liesse Asselin-Labat, PhD Paris

Senior Postdoctoral Fellow: Francois Vaillant, PhD Mon

Postdoctoral Fellow: Toula Bouras, BSc(Hons) PhD Melb

Postdoctoral Fellow: Gwyndolen Harburg, BSc California MSc PhD Texas

Postdoctoral Fellow: Samantha Oakes, BSc(Hons) PhD UNSW

Postdoctoral Fellow: Bhupinder Pal, MSc Kurukshetra

Postdoctoral Fellow: Julie Sheridan, BSc(Hons) Leeds PhD Edinburgh

Research Techncian: Kelsey Haunholter, BSc(Hons) Alberta

Research Assistant: Teresa Ward, BSc(Hons) Massey