Dr Darren Saunders
Senior Research Officer, Group Leader, Cancer Research Program Senior Lecturer (conjoint), Faculty of Medicine, UNSW
Email: d.saunders 'at' garvan.org.au
Research Group: Saunders
Dr Saunders returned to Australia to establish a research group in early 2010 following postdoctoral work in the lab of Prof. Sam Aparicio at the University of British Columbia in Canada. His research is focused on mechanisms of cancer development and progression. Specifically, he’s interested in the ubiquitin/proteasome system, serine protease inhibitors (serpins) and in combining high-throughput gain/loss of function genetic screens with novel fluorescent assays and high-content imaging.
Education
1995 BSc (Hons) Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, Australia
2000 PhD Biological Sciences, University of Wollongong, Australia
Awards
2010 Career Development Fellowship - Cancer Institute NSW
2010 Life Sciences Research Award – NSW Government
2010 International Partnership Travel Award - Stem Cell Network Canada
2007 International Research Fellowship - Cancer Institute NSW
2006 Post-Doctoral Fellowship - US Dept of Defense Breast Cancer Research Program
2005 Post-doc Bursary – 70th Cold Spring Harbour Symposium, NY USA
2004 Ministry for Science & Medical Research Prize – ASMR Scientific Meeting
Publications
Potratz JC, Saunders DN, Wai D, McKinney S, Triche T, Jürgens H, Pollack M, Aparicio SA, Sorenson PHB. Synthetic lethality screens reveal RPS6 and MST1R as modifiers of IGF1 receptor inhibitor activity in childhood sarcomas. Cancer Research - In Press
Croucher DR, Ranson M. Saunders DN. SerpinB2. Nature - UCSD Molecule Pages 2010. doi:10.1038/mp.a004139.01
Hu G, Wang X, Saunders DN, Henderson M, Russell AJ, Herring PB, Zhou J. Activation of Myocardin Function by the Ubiquitin E3 Ligase, UBR5. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2010, 285(16): 11800-9.
Saunders D. Backlogged system in Australia shuts out new investigators. Nature (2009) 458 (7236), 281
Croucher D, Saunders D, Lobov S, Ranson M. Revisiting the biological roles of PAI2 (SERPINB2) in cancer. Nature reviews. Cancer 8 (7), 535-45 (2008)
Saunders D. Ubr5 Nature Molecule Pages (2008)http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/mp.a004067.01
O’Brien P, Davies M, Scurry J, Smith A, Barton C, Henderson M, Saunders D, Gloss B, Patterson K, Clancy J, Heinzelmann-Schwarz V, Scolyer R, Zeng Y, Williams E, Scurr L, DeFazio A, Quinn D, Watts C, Hacker N, Henshall S, Sutherland R. The E3 ubiquitin ligase EDD is an adverse prognostic factor for serous epithelial ovarian cancer and modulates cisplatin resistance in vitro. Br J Cancer 98(6), 1085 – 1093 (2008) http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/sj.bjc.6604281
Poon S, Wong J, Saunders D, Ma Q, McKinney S, Fee J, Aparicio S. Intensity calibration and automated cell cycle gating for high-throughput image-based siRNA screens of mammalian cells. Cytometry. Part A : the journal of the International Society for Analytical Cytology 73 (10) , 904-17 (2008)
Croucher D, Saunders D, Stillfried G, Ranson M. A structural basis for differential cell signalling by PAI-1 and PAI-2 in breast cancer cells Biochem. J. 408 (2)http://dx.doi.org/10.1042/BJ20070767
Munoz M, Saunders D, Henderson M, Clancy J, Russell A, Lehrbach G, Musgrove E, Watts C, Sutherland R. The E3 ubiquitin ligase EDD regulates S-phase and G(2)/M DNA damage checkpoints. Cell cycle (Georgetown, Tex.) 6 (24) , 3070-7 (2007) (Epub 07 Sep 2007) PubMed ID:(18073532)
Stillfried G, Saunders D, Ranson M. Plasminogen binding and activation at the breast cancer cell surface: the integral role of urokinase activity. Breast cancer research : BCR 9 (1) , R14 (2007) PubMed ID:(17257442)
Croucher D, Saunders D, Ranson M. The urokinase/PAI-2 complex: a new high affinity ligand for the endocytosis receptor low density lipoprotein receptor-related protein. The Journal of biological chemistry 281 (15) , 10206-13 (2006) (Epub 03 Feb 2006) PubMed ID:(16459332)
Henderson M, Munoz M, Saunders D, Clancy J, Russell A, Williams B, Pappin D, Khanna K, Jackson S, Sutherland R, Watts C. EDD mediates DNA damage-induced activation of CHK2. The Journal of biological chemistry 281 (52) , 39990-40000 (2006) (Epub 30 Oct 2006) PubMed ID:(17074762)
Saunders D, Hird S, Withington S, Dunwoodie S, Henderson M, Biben C, Sutherland R, Ormandy C, Watts C. Edd, the murine hyperplastic disc gene, is essential for yolk sac vascularization and chorioallantoic fusion. Molecular and cellular biology 24 (16) , 7225-34 (2004) PubMed ID:(15282321)
Jankova L, Harrop S, Saunders D, Andrews J, Bertram K, Gould A, Baker M, Curmi P. Crystal structure of the complex of plasminogen activator inhibitor 2 with a peptide mimicking the reactive center loop. The Journal of biological chemistry 276 (46) , 43374-82 (2001) (Epub 23 Aug 2001) PubMed ID:(11546761)
Saunders D, Jankova L, Harrop S, Curmi P, Gould A, Ranson M, Baker M. Interaction between the P14 residue and strand 2 of beta-sheet B is critical for reactive center loop insertion in plasminogen activator inhibitor-2. The Journal of biological chemistry 276 (46), 43383-9 (2001) PubMed ID:(11555638)
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