Professor Andreas Strasser
Details
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Division: Molecular Genetics of Cancer
Research Overview
Dr Strasser and his team are investigating the control of apoptosis, the cell death program essential for development and homeostasis. By using transgenic mice over-expressing the cell death inhibitor Bcl-2 and knock-out mice lacking one of its antagonists, they demonstrated that abnormalities in the control of apoptosis can cause autoimmune disease or cancer and render tumour cells refractory to anti-cancer therapy. Dr Strasser and his co-workers established that mammalian cells have two distinct signalling pathways leading to apoptosis, one triggered by ligation of cell surface "death receptors" and the other by certain developmental cues, cytokine deprivation or stress signals. Using genetically modified mice they could determine signalling mechanisms that are responsible for killing useless or potentially dangerous at the different checkpoints during lymphocyte development. Using biochemical and molecular biology techniques, Dr Strasser and his team discovered novel regulators that are essential for initiation of programmed cell death and showed that they function as sentinels for damage to various vital intra-cellular structures, such as the cytoskeleton. These discoveries have major implications for cancer research, developmental biology and immunology and suggest novel therapeutic strategies for tumours, autoimmunity and degenerative diseases.
Current research interests include identification of the signalling pathways that mediate developmentally programmed cell death in mammals and those that are responsible for chemotherapy-induced killing of cancer cells, with the goal to develop improved strategies for treatment of cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Research Interests
Selected Publications
- Strasser A, Harris AW, Bath ML, Cory S. Novel primitive lymphoid tumours induced in transgenic mice by cooperation between myc and bcl-2. Nature. 1990 Nov 22;348(6299):331-3 PMID: 2250704 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
- Strasser A, Whittingham S, Vaux DL, Bath ML, Adams JM, Cory S, Harris AW. Enforced BCL2 expression in B-lymphoid cells prolongs antibody responses and elicits autoimmune disease. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991 Oct 1;88(19):8661-5 PMID: 1924327 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
- Strasser A, Harris AW, Cory S. bcl-2 transgene inhibits T cell death and perturbs thymic self-censorship. Cell. 1991 Nov 29;67(5):889-99 PMID: 1959134 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
- Strasser A, Harris AW, Jacks T, Cory S. DNA damage can induce apoptosis in proliferating lymphoid cells via p53-independent mechanisms inhibitable by Bcl-2. Cell. 1994 Oct 21;79(2):329-39 PMID: 7954799 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
- Strasser A, Harris AW, Huang DC, Krammer PH, Cory S. Bcl-2 and Fas/APO-1 regulate distinct pathways to lymphocyte apoptosis. EMBO J. 1995 Dec 15;14(24):6136-47 PMID: 8557033 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
- Bouillet P, Metcalf D, Huang DC, Tarlinton DM, Kay TW, Köntgen F, Adams JM, Strasser A. Proapoptotic Bcl-2 relative Bim required for certain apoptotic responses, leukocyte homeostasis, and to preclude autoimmunity. Science. 1999 Nov 26;286(5445):1735-8 PMID: 10576740 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
- Bouillet P, Purton JF, Godfrey DI, Zhang L-C, Coultas L, Puthalakath, H, Pellegrini M, Cory S, Adams JM, Strasser A. BH3-only Bcl-2 family member Bim is required for apoptosis of autoreactive thymocytes. Nature. 2002 Feb 21; 415(6874):922-6. PMID: 11859372 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
- Villunger A, Michalak EM, Coultas L, Müllauer F, Böck G, Ausserlechner MJ, Adams JM, Strasser A. p53- and drug-induced apoptotic responses mediated by BH3-only proteins Puma and Noxa. Science. 2003 Nov 7; 302(5647):1036-8. Epub 2003 Sep 18. PMID: 14500851 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
- Puthalakath H, O’Reilly LA, Gunn P, Lee L, Kelly PN, Huntington ND, Hughes PD, Michalak EM, McKimm-Breschkin J, Motoyama N, Gotoh T, Akira S, Bouillet P, Strasser A. ER stress triggers apoptosis by activating BH3-only protein Bim. Cell. 2007 Jun 29; 129(7):1337-49. PMID: 17604722 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
- Kelly PN, Dakic A, Adams JM*, Nutt SL* and Strasser A*. Tumor growth need not be driven by rare 'cancer stem cells'. Science. 2007 Jul 20; 317(5836):337. (*joint senior authorship) PMID: 17641192 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
- Jost PJ, Grabow S, Gray D, McKenzie MD, Nachbur U, Huang DCS, Bouillet P, Thomas HE, Borner C, Silke J, Strasser A* and Kaufmann T*. XIAP discriminates between type I and type II Fas-induced apoptosis. (*joint senior authorship). Nature. 2009 Aug 20; 460(7258):1035-9. Epub 2009 Jul 22. PMID: 19626005 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
- O’Reilly LA, Tai L, Lee L, Kruse EA, Grabow S, Fairlie WD, Haynes NM, Tarlinton DM, Zhang-J-G, Belz GT, Smyth MJ, Bouillet P, Robb L, Strasser A. Membrane-bound Fas ligand only is essential for Fas-induced apoptosis. Nature. 2009 Oct 1; 461(7264):659-63. PMID: 19794494 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]
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Current Laboratory Members
Faculty Member: Andreas Strasser MSc Basel PhD Basel FAA
Senior Research Scientist: Lorraine O'Reilly BSc Glasgow PhD London
Senior Postdoctoral Fellow: Daniel Gray BBiomedSc(Hons) Mon PhD Mon
Postdoctoral Fellow: Marco Herold Dipl. Biol. Wurezburg PhD Wurezburg
Postdoctoral Fellow: Gemma Kelly BSc(Hons) Durham PhD Birmingham
Research Assistant: Fiona Kupresanin BBiomedSc Melb
Research Assistant: Ann Lin BSc(Hons) Melb
Research Assistant: Leona Rohrbeck BSc MSc
Research Assistant: Lin Tai BAppSc Swinburne MSc LaTrobe
Postgraduate Student: Alexis Delbridge BBiomedSc(Hons) Melb
Postgraduate Student: Stephanie Grabow MSc Max Planck
Postgraduate Student: Francine Ke BSc(Hons) Melb