Dr Martine F. Roussel, PhD
Member, St. Jude Childrens Hospital
Memphis, TN, USA
Topic- Brain Tumor
Feb 24th 4.30 PM EST/ 3.30 PM CST/ 1.30 PM PST/ 9.30 GMT/ 3.00 AM 25th IST
Roussel short biography:
Dr. Roussel obtained her PhD at the University of Sciences in Lille, France, and did her post-doctoral fellowship as a Fogarty International Fellow in the Laboratory of Tumor Virus Genetics at the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, MD. She and her husband Dr. Sherr then moved to SJCRH where she rose through the ranks where she is now Full Member in the Department of Tumor Cell Biology and Full Professor in the Department of Molecular Sciences at the University of Tennessee. Dr. Roussel is co-chair of the Cancer Center Cancer Genetics, Biochemistry and Cell Biology (CGBCB) Program since 2006 and holds the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital Endowed Chair in Molecular Oncogenesis since 2007. Dr. Roussel is a member of several advisory boards and scientific review committees and serves on several editorial boards. In 2011, she was elected to the National Academy of Arts and Sciences and was ranked as one of the top 50 French personalities in the USA.
Her research interest covers many aspects of the regulation of cell proliferation from understanding mitogenic and apoptotic signals and G1 restriction point control, the role of cyclin-dependent kinases inhibitors in development, cell proliferation and cancer, how cell cycle and development regulate the central nervous system and the role of the INK4a/ARF locus in tumor suppression.
Brief description of my research interests:
My research program focuses on identifying the genes and microRNAs within signaling pathways that govern the normal development of the cerebellum and formation of medulloblastoma, a malignant cerebellar tumor of childhood. Our long range goal is to define novel molecular targets that are “druggable”. Using molecular profiling of human medulloblastoma, we are creating mouse models that faithfully recapitulate the human disease and that can be used pre-clinically. We recently generated a mouse model of the least curable form of medulloblastoma, called Group3, for which current therapies are inadequate. We are developing patient-derived xenografts (PDXs) of different medulloblastoma subgroups from primary patient tumors. This mouse model and PDXs has enabled the screen for novel therapeutic compounds/drugs that suppressed medulloblastoma proliferation, some of which have been incorporated into the new St Jude Medulloblastoma clinical protocol (SJMB012). Altering the balance between pro- and anti-proliferative genes or between genes inducing or preventing migration and differentiation, might affect neuronal progenitors’ state of proliferation, migration and differentiation and predispose them to induce brain tumors.
Honors & Awards
- 2011 Elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
- 2007 Recipient of the Endowed Chair in Molecular Oncogenesis
- 2002 Elected Vice-President USA for Eurocancer France
- 2001 Elected Member of the Faculty of 1000
