Honorary/Associate Staff Biographies
Professor Kefah Mokbel MB BS MS FRCS
Professor Kefah Mokbel MB BS MS FRCS is the lead breast surgeon at the London Breast Institute of the Princess Grace Hospital, an honorary consultant breast surgeon at St George's Hospital, Honorary Professor of Breast Cancer Surgery at The Brunel Institute of Cancer Genetics and Pharmacogenomics (London, UK) and the founder and current president of Breast Cancer Hope - a UK-based charity "dedicated to improving the quantity and quality of life in women diagnosed with breast cancer". He has been ranked among the top 25 breast cancer experts in the world and among the top 5 breast cancer experts in the UK. In November 2010 he was named in the Times magazine's list of Britain's Top Doctors. (for references and further information, see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kefah_Mokbel).
Kefah Mokbel was born in 1965 in Syria. In 1983 he was awarded a scholarship to study medicine in Great Britain where he studied A levels in a boarding school in Shrewsbury, achieving three A grades and distinction in Special Papers (1985). He graduated (MB,BS) from the University of London in 1990. He was awarded several prestigious prizes during his undergraduate medical training and achieved the highest score in General Medicine (MB,BS finals) at The London Hospital Medical College. He qualified as a Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons (FRCS, England) in 1994, and was granted the Master of Surgery degree in 2000 by The Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine for his research in the field of molecular biology of breast cancer.
Professor Mokbel's clinical interests in the field of breast surgery include the early detection of breast cancer, breast ductoscopy, minimally-invasive breast surgery, sentinel node biopsy, skin-sparing mastectomy, breast reconstruction, cosmetic breast surgery, prevention of breast cancer, genetic predisposition, and the management of benign conditions including breast cysts, mastalgia and fibroadenomas. His research interests lie in the field of molecular biology and the clinical management of breast cancer. His prolific research output includes over 200 published papers in the medical literature, and he has written 14 books in various medical disciplines including surgery, oncology, breast cancer, and postgraduate medical education.
Jan Paul Medema
Jan Paul Medema is Professor of Experimental Oncology and Radiobiology, University of Amsterdam and Deputy Head Center of Experimental Molecular Medicine, Academic Medical Centre (AMC) and University of Amsterdam.
The group of Jan Paul Medema is one of the groups focusing on colorectal cancer. Over the years they have studied mechanisms of cell death resistance in cancer, initially focusing on apoptosis pathways and inhibitors in immune surveillance. Recent work is aimed at elucidating the role of cancer stem cells (CSCs) in tumor growth and resistance. The group of Medema was the first to prove an essential aspect of CSC biology by showing that a single CSC can self-renew and develop all differentiated lineages within a tumor. Moreover, the group identified an intriguing plasticity within tumors showing for the first time that differentiated tumor cells can regain cancer stem cell properties under the influence of stromal-derived factors. This has resulted in a revised view on CSCs and their plasticity, but also on a potentially novel therapeutic avenue targeting the microenvironment-derived factors. Using the knowledge of CSC biology and the mechanisms of resistance, the group is now defining means to target tumors more effectively and using gene expression profiles derived from CSC and patients to better understand the prognosis of individual patients.
Professor Medema is an
website: http://www.amc.nl/web/Research/Who-is-Who-in-Research/Oncology.htm?p=326
Vincenzo De Laurenzi
Vincenzo De Laurenzi received his MD in 1990 from the University of Rome Tor Vergata and a PhD in Enzimology from the same University in 1994.
Besides working for many years in the laboratory of Gerry Melino in Rome he has worked at the NIH, Bethesda Maryland investigating the molecular mechanisms of skin deseases and more recently at the MRC toxicology unit in Leicester UK. Currently he is Associate Professor of Clinical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University “G. D’Annunzio” in Chieti. His main scientific interests are: the study of the regulation and function of the p53 family of transcription factors, mainly in cancer development and the role of Histone Locus Bodies components in the regulation of cell cycle.
Recent Publications
De Cola A, Bongiorno-Borbone L, Bianchi E, Barcaroli D, Carletti E, Knight RA, Di Ilio C, Melino G, Sette C, De Laurenzi V
FLASH is essential during early embryogenesis and cooperates with p73 to regulate histone gene transcription.
Oncogene. 2011 Jul 4. doi: 10.1038/onc.2011.274. [Epub ahead of print]
Graziano V, De Laurenzi V.
Role of p63 in cancer development.
BBA Rev Cancer 2011 Apr 15. [Epub ahead of print]
Rosati A, Graziano V, De Laurenzi V, Pascale M, Turco MC.
BAG3: a multifaceted protein that regulates major cell pathways.
Cell Death Dis. 2011 Apr 7;2:e141
Festa M., Del Valle L., Khalili K., Franco R., Scognamiglio G., Graziano V., De Laurenzi V., Turco M. C. and Rosati A.
BAG3 protein is overexpressed in human glioblastoma and is a potential target for therapy.
American Journal of Pathology. 2011 (in press)
Ammirante M, De Laurenzi V, Graziano V, Turco MC and Rosati A.
BAG3 is required for IKKα nuclear translocation and emergence of castration resistant prostate cancer.
Cell Death Dis. 2011 Mar 31;2:e139.
Graupner V, Alexander E, Overkamp T, Rothfuss O, De Laurenzi V, Gillissen BF, Daniel PT, Schulze-Osthoff K, Essmann F.
Differential regulation of the proapoptotic multidomain protein Bak by p53 and p73 at the promoter level.
Cell Death Differ. 2011
Oddi S, Dainese E, Fezza F, Lanuti M, Barcaroli D, De Laurenzi V, Centonze D, Maccarrone M.
Functional characterization of putative cholesterol binding sequence (CRAC) in human type-1 cannabinoid receptor.
J Neurochem. 2011 116(5): 858-65
De Luca A., Sanna F., Sallese M., Ruggiero C., Mauro M., Sacchetta P., Rossi C., De Laurenzi V., Di Ilio C., and Favaloro B.
Methionine sulfoxide reductase A down-regulation in human breast cancer cells results in a more aggressive phenotype
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 107(43):18628-33
Schuster A., Schilling T., De Laurenzi V., Koch A., Seitz A., Staib F., Teufel, Snorri Thorgeirsson A., Galle P., Melino G., Stremmel W., Krammer P.H. and Müller M. ΔNp73ß is oncogenic in hepatocellular carcinoma by blocking apoptosis signaling via death receptors and mitochondria.
Cell Cycle 2010 9(13):
Bongiorno-Borbone L, De Cola A, Barcaroli D, Knight RA, Di Ilio C, Melino G, and De Laurenzi V.
FLASH degradation in response to UV-C results in histone locus bodies disruption and cell-cycle arrest.
Oncogene. 2010 Feb 11;29(6):802-10
Galluzzi L, Aaronson SA, Abrams J, Alnemri ES, Andrews DW, Baehrecke EH, Bazan NG, Blagosklonny MV, Blomgren K, Borner C, Bredesen DE, Brenner C, Castedo M, Cidlowski JA, Ciechanover A, Cohen GM, De Laurenzi V, et al.
Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring cell death in higher eukaryotes.
Cell Death Differ. 2009 16(8):1093-107 Barcaroli D, Dinsdale D, Neale MH, Bongiorno-Borbone L, Ranalli M, Munarriz E, Sayan AE, McWilliam JM, Smith TM, Fava E, Knight RA, Melino G, De Laurenzi V.
FLASH is an essential component of Cajal bodies.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 103(40):14802-7.
Barcaroli D, Bongiorno-Borbone L, Terrinoni A, Hofmann TG, Rossi M, Knight RA, Matera AG, Melino G, De Laurenzi V.
FLASH is required for histone transcription and S-phase progression.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006 103(40):14808-12.
Bongiorno-Borbone L., De Cola A., Vernole P., Finos L., Daniela Barcaroli, Knight R. A., Melino G., De Laurenzi V.
FLASH and NPAT positive but not coilin positive Cajal Bodies correlate with cell ploidy
Cell Cycle 2008 Aug;7(15):2357-67
Vernole P., Neale M. H. , Barcaroli D., Munarriz E., Knight R.A., Tomasini, R. Mak T.W., Melino G. and De Laurenzi V.
TAp73α binds the kinetochore proteins Bub1 and Bub3 resulting in polyploidy
Cell Cycle 2009 8(3): 421-9
