Roger Reddel

Biography

Professor Roger Reddel is a medical oncologist, molecular geneticist and an internationally renowned expert on cancer cell immortalisation. He is Director of Children’s Medical Research Institute (CMRI), Westmead and a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Sciences. His research career on the cellular and molecular biology of immortalisation commenced as a postdoctoral scientist (Fulbright Fellow) at the National Cancer Institute, Maryland, USA, where he improved techniques for immortalisation of human cells in vitro and made the key finding that immortalisation is necessary for malignant transformation of human cells. He returned to Australia to establish and head the Cancer Research Unit at CMRI, with a fellowship from Cancer Council NSW, which has provided major support ever since. He is internationally recognised for research on the enzyme telomerase and for discovering ALT (Alternative Lengthening of Telomeres), which together contribute to unlimited growth in >95% of cancers. His team has made additional seminal findings regarding ALT and the manner in which it is repressed in normal (non-cancer) cells, and identified a molecular marker for ALT that is being developed as a blood test to detect ALT-positive tumours. Overall his research aims to help develop anti-cancer treatments that would work by blocking immortalisation, and tests for detecting signs of cellular immortalisation for early detection of cancer. Professor Reddel has won numerous awards including the Ramaciotti Medal for Excellence in Biomedical Research (2007) and the 2011 NSW Premier's Award for Outstanding Cancer Researcher of the Year. He was a founding member of the University of Sydney's Cancer Research Network and chaired its Translational Research Committee. He is a member of the Executive Management Group of the Kids Cancer Alliance, which brings together leading paediatric medical oncologists and scientists across NSW, to facilitate the translation of basic research toward improved clinical management of children with cancer.

Research Interest

 Professor Reddel’s research on the molecular genetics of cancer cell immortalisation focuses on the processes by which telomeres in cancer cells remain lengthened thereby facilitating evasion of senescence, i.e. studies on the enzyme telomerase and an alternative mechanism of lengthening of telomeres (ALT). The latter field of research was created after his team’s discovery of ALT in human cell lines, tumour-derived cell lines and in tumours. His team has since made major findings including: the discovery of a novel type of PML body in ALT cells that enables diagnosis of ALT by immunostaining of routine tumour sections; demonstration of ALT activation due to loss of repressor gene(s); cloning of the human telomerase catalytic subunit, hTERT (with an Australian consortium led by Dr Andrzej Kilian, Canberra); first definitive identification of the subunits of active human telomerase enzyme; showing that the presence of ALT activity is a strong predictor of outcome for high-grade brain tumours; discovery of a molecular marker that is rapidly responsive to changes in ALT activity (being developed into a blood test for the presence of ALT-positive tumours and as a rapid assay for screening chemical compounds for anti-ALT activity). Ongoing research remains focused on investigating the molecular mechanisms of ALT and how it is repressed in normal cells, finding the counterpart of ALT in normal tissues, developing assays to help identify ALT-inhibiting drugs, optimising methods for ALT detection in tumours (for routine use in pathology laboratories), and studies of the prevalence and prognostic significance of ALT in human cancer. Translational research projects through the Kids Cancer Alliance are investigating the genetics and clinical features of Short Telomere Syndrome and the association between telomere length and the side effects of cancer treatment.