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About

I am an Clinical Haematologist practising clinical medicine at the Royal Melbourne Hospital / Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and leading translational research at WEHI and the University of Melbourne.

As well as leading a research laboratory, I jointly lead WEHI’s Cancer Research and Treatments theme. I am also a clinical haematologist at The Royal Melbourne Hospital and Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre.

After training in haematology in Brisbane, I did my PhD with Professor Donald Metcalf at WEHI, then a post-doc with Dr David Williams in the USA before returning to WEHI and The Royal Melbourne Hospital.

I have been an academic leader in the clinical development of the novel targeted anti-cancer drug, venetoclax, from concept through preclinical development and clinical trials to registration. Currently I serve as Deputy Editor of Blood, the most cited journal in haematology.

My long-term research interests are the development of new treatments for haematological malignancies, focussing especially on those blood cancers that are currently incurable. My lab collaborates closely with the clinical and laboratory researchers across the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre, and with translational research colleagues at WEHI, especially my long term collaborator Professor David Huang.

Major focuses of our research include:
– Molecular basis of leukemogenesis and lymphomagenesis
– Molecular basis of resistance to chemotherapy and targeted therapies
– BCL-2 inhibitors and BH3 mimetics
– Clinical trials of novel therapies

Publications

Selected publications from Prof Andrew Roberts AM

Gao M, Georgiou A, Lin VS, Jahja M, White CA, Anderson MA, McCormack MP, Roberts AW, Huang DCS, Thijssen R. Potential impact of NOTCH1 activation on venetoclax sensitivity in chronic lymphocytic Leukaemia: In vitro insights and clinical implications. British Journal of Haematology. 2024;:10.1111/bjh.19604

Diepstraten ST, Yuan Y, La Marca JE, Young S, Chang C, Whelan L, Ross AM, Fischer KC, Pomilio G, Morris R, Georgiou A, Litalien V, Brown FC, Roberts AW, Strasser A, Wei AH, Kelly GL. Putting the STING back into BH3-mimetic drugs for TP53-mutant blood cancers. Cancer Cell. 2024;42(5):10.1016/j.ccell.2024.04.004

Handunnetti SM, Anderson MA, Burbury KI, Thompson PA, Burke G, Bressel M, Di Iulio JL, Hicks RJ, Westerman DA, Lade S, Pott C, Agarwal R, Koldej RM, Ritchie D, Dreyling M, Dawson MA, Dawson S-J, Seymour JF, Roberts AW, Tam CS. Seven-year outcomes of venetoclax-ibrutinib therapy in mantle cell lymphoma: durable responses and treatment-free remissions. Blood. 2024;:10.1182/blood.2023023388

Stilgenbauer S, Tausch E, Roberts AW, Davids MS, Eichhorst B, Hallek M, Hillmen P, Schneider C, Schetelig J, Böttcher S, Kater AP, Jiang Y, Boyer M, Popovic R, Ghanim MT, Moran M, Sinai WJ, Wang X, Mukherjee N, Chyla B, Wierda WG, Seymour JF. Six-year follow-up and subgroup analyses of a phase 2 trial of venetoclax for del(17p) chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Blood Advances. 2024;8(8):10.1182/bloodadvances.2023011741

Lew TE, Bennett R, Lin VS, Whitechurch A, Handunnetti SM, Marlton P, Shen Y, Mulligan SP, Casan J, Blombery P, Tam CS, Roberts AW, Seymour JF, Thompson PA, Anderson MA. Venetoclax-rituximab is active in patients with BTKi-exposed CLL, but durable treatment-free remissions are uncommon. Blood Advances. 2024;8(6):10.1182/bloodadvances.2023011327

Tiong IS, Wall M, Bajel A, Kalro A, Fleming S, Roberts AW, Thiagarajah N, Chua CC, Latimer M, Yeung D, Marlton P, Johnston A, Enjeti A, Fong CY, Cull G, Larsen S, Kennedy G, Schwarer A, Kipp D, Ramanathan S, Verner E, Tiley C, Morris E, Hahn U, Moore J, Taper J, Purtill D, Warburton P, Stevenson W, Murphy N, Tan P, Beligaswatte A, Mutsando H, Hertzberg M, Shortt J, Szabo F, Dunne K, Wei AH. How comparable are patient outcomes in the “real-world” with populations studied in pivotal AML trials?. Blood Cancer Journal. 2024;14(1):10.1038/s41408-024-00996-x

Loo S, Roberts AW, Anstee NS, Kennedy GA, He S, Schwarer AP, Enjeti AK, D’Rozario J, Marlton P, Bilmon IA, Taper J, Cull G, Tiley C, Verner E, Hahn U, Hiwase DK, Iland HJ, Murphy N, Ramanathan S, Reynolds J, Ong DM, Tiong IS, Wall M, Murray M, Rawling T, Leadbetter J, Rowley L, Latimer M, Yuen S, Ting SB, Fong CY, Morris K, Bajel A, Seymour JF, Levis MJ, Wei AH, Group ALAL. Sorafenib plus intensive chemotherapy in newly diagnosed FLT3-ITD AML: a randomized, placebo-controlled study by the ALLG. Blood. 2023;142(23):10.1182/blood.2023020301

Gopalakrishnan S, Menon R, Suleiman AA, Kater AP, Stilgenbauer S, Seymour JF, Chyla B, Lu T, Kim SY, Roberts AW, Woyach JA, Mensing S, Salem AH. Relationship Between Venetoclax Exposure and Undetectable Minimal Residual Disease Rates in Relapsed/Refractory Patients With Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia: A Pooled Analysis of Six Clinical Studies. HemaSphere. 2023;7(12):10.1097/hs9.0000000000000983

Chua CC, Anstee N, Flensburg C, Teh C, Ivey A, Amin N, Thijssen R, Bohlander SK, Kakadia PM, Xu Z, Fong CY, Ting S, Loo S, Tiong IS, Gray D, Fleming S, Davidson N, Roberts AW, Majewski I, Wei AH, Brown FC. Venetoclax Has Potent Efficacy in NPM1 mutated AML with Acquired Resistance Associated with Either Perturbed Pro-Survival Signalling or NPM1 wild-Type Populations. Blood. 2023;142(Supplement 1):10.1182/blood-2023-185321

Yuan Y, Diepstraten ST, Brown FC, Litalien V, Strasser A, Kelly GL, Roberts AW, Wei AH. Direct, Potent, and TP53-Independent Activity of Sting Agonists Against Acute Myeloid Leukaemia Enhances Venetoclax Efficacy In Vivo. Blood. 2023;142(Supplement 1):10.1182/blood-2023-179698

Lab research projects

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