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Professor Janni Petersen (photo: supplied)

Targeting Cell Signalling in Nutrient-Stressed Environments for Cancer Therapy

Hosted by: Associate Professor Tamas Fischer

Abstract

Our aim is to explore the mechanisms that differentiate tumour cells, especially those that metastasize, from normal cells in the body. Tumour cells that metastasize often experience nutritional stress due to their inadequate blood supply. This contrasts with the body’s ability to maintain stable nutrient levels, such as glucose, in the bloodstream under normal conditions.

Using single-celled organisms like yeast and cancer-derived tissue cultures, we are characterizing nutrient-dependent cell signalling, focusing primarily on Target of Rapamycin (TOR) and AMP dependent protein kinase (AMPK) signalling pathways. We have employed time-resolved mass spectrometry and a drug-induced strategy to manipulate TOR Complex 1 (TORC1) and AMPK activity in yeast. This approach has identified numerous conserved novel phosphorylation sites in essential regulators of nutrient sensing, cell proliferation, and long-term survival under nutrient stress.

In cancer tissue cell cultures, we have unveiled novel nutrient-dependent cell signalling pathways that are crucial for cancer cell proliferation and survival. Our goal is to leverage the unique characteristics of cancer cells regarding their nutrient-dependent cell signalling. Gaining this insight could pave the way for developing targeted drugs that exploit the vulnerabilities of cancer cells without affecting the rest of the patient, thereby reducing the adverse side effects associated with chemotherapy.

Biography

Professor Janni Petersen is a Matthew Flinders Professor at Flinders University, working at the Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer. She holds degrees in Biochemistry (BSc), Genetics (MSc), and Cell Biology (PhD) from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark. She undertook postdoctoral studies under the mentorship of Professor Iain Hagan at The University of Manchester and the Cancer Research UK Manchester Institute, where she studied the role of protein kinases in regulating cell cycle progression in fission yeast.

She then joined Nobel laureate Sir Paul Nurse at Rockefeller University in New York, USA, as a Research Associate, continuing her research on protein kinases and cell cycle regulation in fission yeast. In 2005, she established an independent research group at the Faculty of Life Sciences at The University of Manchester, UK. In December 2009, she was awarded a Cancer Research UK Senior Research Fellowship.

In 2015, she joined Flinders University and received a faculty appointment at the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute (SAHMRI) as part of the Nutrition and Metabolism theme. At Flinders University, her research group is a member of the Cancer Research theme. Janni currently leads ARC Discovery Projects and an NHMRC Ideas Grant and has been the recipient of funding from Worldwide Cancer Research (UK), Cancer Council Australia, and Cancer Research UK.