Dr Max Nobis

Visiting Scientist - Invasion and Metastasis Lab

Dr Max Nobis

Following my MSc in Oncology at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, I went on to work in Prof Kurt Anderson’s lab at the CRUK Beatson Institute in Glasgow. My PhD project focused on characterising FRET biosensor mice and their use in studying disease progression in mouse models of mammary and pancr

Biography

Following my MSc in Oncology at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, I went on to work in Prof Kurt Anderson’s lab at the CRUK Beatson Institute in Glasgow. My PhD project focused on characterising FRET biosensor mice and their use in studying disease progression in mouse models of mammary and pancreatic cancer, as well as their use in monitoring pharmacodynamics in vivo, employing optical window imaging.

I joined Prof Paul Timpson’s lab to apply advanced imaging techniques in the study of pancreatic cancer disease progression and treatment, using FRET biosensor mice in conjunction with genetic mouse models of pancreatic cancer and patient specific biomarkers for the tailoring of personalized treatment regimens.

Following my MSc in Oncology at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, I went on to work in Prof Kurt Anderson’s lab at the CRUK Beatson Institute in Glasgow. My PhD project focused on characterising FRET biosensor mice and their use in studying disease progression in mouse models of mammary and pancreatic cancer, as well as their use in monitoring pharmacodynamics in vivo, employing optical window imaging.

I joined Prof Paul Timpson’s lab to apply advanced imaging techniques in the study of pancreatic cancer disease progression and treatment, using FRET biosensor mice in conjunction with genetic mouse models of pancreatic cancer and patient specific biomarkers for the tailoring of personalized treatment regimens.

Awards and Honours

2021 ANZSCDB Early-Career Researcher Award
2019 Hunter Cell Biology International Meeting, Sydney Catalyst Prize
2018 CINSW Early Career Fellowship
2018 St. Vincent’s Research Week National Meeting Prize
2017 Lorne Cancer Conference Poster Prize

Education

2016 – PhD, CRUK Beatson Institute, University of Glasgow – UK
2012 – MSc, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam – The Netherlands
2009 – BSc, University of Applied Sciences Bonn-Rhein-Sieg – Germany

Fundings

Jan 2020 – Dec 2022: Ideas Grant | National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC)

Jan 2020 – Dec 2020: Thelma Greig Cancer Grant | St Vincent’s Clinic Foundation

Jan 2018 – Dec 2020: Early Career Fellowship | Cancer Institute New South Wales (CINSW)

Selected Publications

Floerchinger A*, Murphy KJ*, Latham SL, Warren SC, McCulloch AT, Lee YK, Stoehr J, Melenec P, Guaman CS, Metcalf XL, Lee V, Zaratzian A, Da Silva A, Tayao M, Rolo S, Phimmachanh M, Sultani G, McDonald L, Mason SM, Ferrari N, Ooms L, Johnsson A-KE, Spence HJ, Olson MF, Machesky LM, Sansom OJ, Morton JP, Mitchell CA, Samuel MS, Croucher DR, Welch HCE, Blyth K, Caldon CE, Herrmann D, Anderson KI, Timpson P#, Nobis M#. Optimizing metastatic cascade dependent Rac1 targeting in breast cancer: guidance using optical window intravital FRET imaging. Cell Reports. 2021 Sep 14;36(11):109689.

Murphy KJ, Reed DA, Vennin C, Conway JRW, Nobis M, Yin JX, Chambers CR, Pereira BA, Lee V, Filipe EC, Trpceski M, Ritchie S, Lucas MC, Warren SC, Skhinas JN, Magenau A, Metcalf XL, Stoehr J, Major G, Parkin A, Bidanel R, Lyons RJ, Zaratzian A, Tayao M, Da Silva A, Abdulkhalek L, Australian Pancreatic Genome Initiative (APGI), Australian Pancreatic Cancer Matrix Atlas (APMA), Gill AJ, Johns AL, Biankin AV, Samra J, Grimmond SM, Chou A, Goetz JG, Samuel MS, Lyons JG, Burgess A, Caldon CE, Horvath LG, Daly RJ, Gadegaard N, Wang Y, Sansom OJ, Morton JP, Cox TR, Pajic M, Herrmann D, Timpson P. Intravital imaging technology guides FAK mediated priming in pancreatic cancer precision medicine according to Merlin status. Science Advances. 2021 Oct;7(40):eabh0363.

Gonzalez-Rajal A, Marzec KA, McCloy RA, Nobis M, Chin V, Hastings JF, Lai K, Kennerson M, Hughes WE, Vaghijani V, Timpson P, Cain JE, Watkins DN, Croucher DR, Burgess A. A non-genetic, cell cycle-dependent mechanism of platinum resistance in lung adenocarcinoma. eLife. 2021 May 13;10:e65234.

Yan C*, Zeng T*, Lee K*, Nobis M, Loh K, Gou L, Xia Z, Gao Z, Bensellam M, Hughes W, Lau J, Zhang L, Ip CK, Enriquez R, Gao H, Wang QP, Haigh JJ, Laybutt DR, Timpson P, Herzog H, Shi YC. Peripheral-specific Y1 receptor antagonism increases thermogenesis and protects against diet-induced obesity. Nature Communications. 2021 May; 12(1):2622.

Lamm N, Read MN, Nobis M, Van Ly D, Page SG, Masamsetti VP, Timpson P, Biro M, Cesare AJNuclear F-actin counteracts nuclear deformation and promotes fork repair during replication stress. Nature Cell Biology. 2020 Dec;22(12):1460-1470.

Srijakotre N*, Lui HJ*, Nobis M, Man J, Yip HYK, Papa A, Adub H, Anderson KI, Welch HC, Tiganis T, Timpson P, McLean C, Ooms L, Mitchell C. PtdIns(3,4,5)P3-dependent Rac exchanger 1 (P-Rex1) promotes mammary tumor initiation and metastasis. PNAS. 2020 Nov 10;117(45):28056-28067.

Cipponi A., Goode DL, Bedo J, Croucher DR, McCabe MJ, Rajal AG, Saunders DN, Lobachevsky P, Junanakar SR, Papenfuss AT, Pajic M, Nessem D, Nobis M, Warren SC, Timpson P, Cowley M, Vargas AC, Qui MR, Generali DG, Keerthikumar S, Nguyen U, Carciran NM, Long GV, Blay JY, Thomas DM. MTOR signaling orchastrates stress-induced mutagenesis, facilitating adaptive evolution in cancer. Science. 2020 Jun 5;368(6495):1127-1131.

Vennin C, Melenec P, Rouet R, Nobis M, Cazet AS, Murphy K, Herrmann D, Reed D, Lucas MC, Warren SC, Elgundi Z, Pinese M, Kalna G, Roden D, Samuel M, Zaratzian A, Grey ST, Da Silva AM, Leung W, (APGI) Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative, Mathivanan S, Wang Y, Braithwaite AW, Christ D, Benda A, Parkin A, Phillips PA, Whitelock, JM, Gill AJ, Sansom OJ, Croucher DR, Parker B, Pajic M, Morton JP, Cox TR, Timpson P. CAF hierarchy driven by pancreatic cancer cell p53-status creates a pro-metastatic and chemoresistant environment via perlecan. Nature Communications. 2019 Aug12;10(1):3637.

Kennedy SP*, Han JZR*, Portman N, Nobis M, Hastings JF, Murphy KJ, Cadell AL, Miladinovic D, Marriott GR, O'Donnell YEI, Shearer RF, Williams J, Munoz AG, Cox TR, Watkins DN, Saunders DN, Timpson P, Lim E, Kolch W, Croucher DR. Targeting promiscuous heterodimerization overcomes innate resistance to ERBB2 dimerization inhibitors in breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res. 2019 Mar 21;21(1):43. doi: 10.1186/s13058-019-1127-y.

Koudelková L, Pataki AC, Tolde O, Pavlik V, Nobis M, Gemperle J, Anderson K, Brábek J, Rosel D. Novel FRET-Based Src Biosensor Reveals Mechanisms of Src Activation and Its Dynamics in Focal Adhesions. Cell Chem Biol. 2019 Feb 21;26(2):255-268.e4. doi: 10.1016/j.chembiol.2018.10.024.

Warren SC, Nobis M, Magenau A, Mohammed YH, Herrmann D, Moran I, Vennin C, Conway JR, Mélénec P, Cox TR, Wang Y, Morton JP, Welch HC, Strathdee D, Anderson KI, Phan TG, Roberts MS, Timpson P. Removing physiological motion from intravital and clinical functional imaging data. Elife. 2018 Jul 9;7. pii: e35800.

Conway JRW, Warren SC, Herrmann D, Murphy KJ, Cazet AS, Vennin C, Shearer RF, Killen MJ, Magenau A, Mélénec P, Pinese M, Nobis M, Zaratzian A, Boulghourjian A, Da Silva AM, Del Monte-Nieto G, Adam ASA, Harvey RP, Haigh JJ, Wang Y, Croucher DR, Sansom OJ, Pajic M, Caldon CE, Morton JP, Timpson P. Intravital Imaging to Monitor Therapeutic Response in Moving Hypoxic Regions Resistant to PI3K Pathway Targeting in Pancreatic Cancer. Cell Reports. 2018 Jun 12;23(11):3312-3326.

Nobis M*, Warren SC*, Lucas MC, Murphy KJ, Herrmann D, Timpson, P. Molecular mobility and activity in an intravital imaging setting - implications for cancer progression and targeting. J Cell Sci. 2018 Mar 6;131(5). pii: jcs206995.

Nobis M, Herrmann D, Warren SC, Strathdee D, Cox TR, Anderson KI, Timpson P. Shedding new light on RhoA signalling as a drug target in vivo using a novel RhoA-FRET biosensor mouse. Small GTPases. 2018 Feb 18:0.

Boyle,ST, Kular J, Nobis M, Ruszkiewicz A, Timpson P, Samuel MS. Acute compressive stress activates RHO/ROCK-mediated cellular processes. Small GTPases. 2018 Feb 17:1-17.

Nobis M*, Herrmann D*,  Warren SC*, Kadir S, Leung W, Killen M, Magenau A, Stevenson D, Lucas MC, Reischmann N, Vennin C, Conway JRW, Boulghourjian A, Zaratzian A, Law AM, Gallego-Ortega D, Ormandy CJ, Walters SN, Grey ST, Bailey J, Chtanova T, Quinn JMW, Baldock PA, Croucher PI, Schwarz JP, Mrowinsks A, Zhang L, Herzog H, Masedunskas A, Hardeman EC, Gunning PW, del Monte-Nieto G, Harvey RP, Samuel MS, Pajic M, McGhee EJ, Johnsson AKE, Sansom OJ, Welch HCE, Morton JP, Strathdee D, Anderson KI, Timpson P. A RhoA-FRET biosensor mouse for intravital imaging in normal tissue homeostasis and disease contexts. Cell Reports. 2017 Oct; 21(1):274-288.

Cammareri P, Vincent DF, Ridgway RA, Murgia C, Nobis M, Hodder MC, Campbell AD, Varga J, Huels DJ, Subramani C, Hedley A, Barry ST, Greten FR, Inman GJ, Sansom OJ. TGFβ pathway limits dedifferentiation following WNT and MAPK pathway activation to suppress intestinal tumourigenesis. Cell Death and Differentiation. 2017 Oct; 24(10):1681-93.

Vennin C, Chin VT, Warren SC, Lucas MC, Herrmann D, Magenau A, Melenec P, Walters SN, Del Monte-Nieto G, Conway JR, Nobis M, Allam AH, McCloy RA, Currey N, Pinese M, Boulghourjian A, Zaratzian A, Adam AA, Heu C, Nagrial AM, Chou A, Steinmann A, Drury A, Froio D, Giry-Laterriere M, Harris NL, Phan T, Jain R, Weninger W, McGhee EJ, Whan R, Johns AL, Samra JS, Chantrill L, Gill AJ, Kohonen-Corish M, Harvey RP, Biankin AV, Australian Pancreatic Cancer Genome Initiative (APGI), Evans TR, Anderson KI, Grey ST, Ormandy CJ, Gallego-Ortega D, Wang Y, Samuel MS, Sansom OJ, Burgess A, Cox TR, Morton JP, Pajic M, Timpson P. Transient tissue priming via ROCK inhibition uncouples pancreatic cancer progression, sensitivity to chemotherapy, and metastasis. Science Translational Medicine. 2017 Apr 5;9(384). pii: eaai8504.

Wildenberg ME, Koelink PJ, Diederen K, te Velde AA, Wolfkamp SC, Nuij VJ, Peppelenbosch MP, Nobis M, Sansom OJ, Anderson KI, van der Woude CJ, D’Haens GR, and van den Brink GR. The ATG16L1 risk allele associated with Crohn's disease results in a Rac1-dependent defect in dendritic cell migration that is corrected by thiopurines. Mucosal Immunol. 2017 Mar; 10(2):352-360. 

Kalafatovic D*, Nobis M*, Son J, Anderson KI, Ulijn RV. MMP-9 triggered self-assembly of doxorubicin nanofiber depots halts tumor growth. Biomaterials. 2016 Aug; 98:192-202 *Co-first author

Susanto O, Muinonen-Martin AJ, Nobis M, Insall RH. Visualizing cancer cell chemotaxis and invasion in 2D and 3D. Methods Mol Biol. 2016; 1407:217-28

Erami Z*, Herrmann D*, Warren SC, Nobis M, McGhee EJ, Lucas M, Leung W, Reischmann N, Mrowinska A, Schwarz JP, Kadir S, Conway JRW, Vennin C, Karim SA, Campbell AD,  Gallego-Ortega D,  Magenau A, Murphy KJ, Ridgway RA,  Law AM,  Walters SN, Grey ST, Croucher D,  Zhang L, Herzog H, Hardeman EC, Gunning PW, Ormandy CJ, Evans JTR,  Strathdee D,  Sansom OJ, Morton JP1, Anderson KI, Timpson P. Intravital FRAP imaging using an E-cadherin-GFP mouse reveals disease and drug-dependent dynamic regulation of cell-cell junctions in live tissue. Cell Reports. 2016 Jan 5;14(1):152-67

von Karstedt S, Conti A, Nobis M, Montinaro A, Hartwig T, Lemke J, Legler K, Annewanter F, Campbell AD, Taraborrelli L, Grosse-Wilde A, Coy JF, El-Bahrawy MA, Bergmann F, Koschny R, Werner J, Ganten TM, Schweiger T, Hoetzenecker K, Kenessey I, Hegedüs B, Bergmann M, Hauser C, Egberts JH, Becker T, Röcken C, Kalthoff H, Trauzold A, Anderson KI, Sansom OJ, Walczak H. Cancer cell-autonomous TRAIL-R signaling promotes KRAS-driven cancer progression, invasion, and metastasis. Cancer Cell. 2015 Apr 13;27(4):561-73 

Kalafatovic D, Nobis M, Javid N, Frederix PW, Anderson KI, Saunders BR, Ulijn RV. MMP-9 triggered micelle-to-fibre transitions for slow release of doxorubicin. Biomater Sci. 2015 Feb;3(2):246-9

Nobis M, McGhee EJ, Herrmann D, Magenau A, Morton JP, Anderson KI, Timpson P. Monitoring the dynamics of Src activity in response to anti-invasive dasatinib treatment at a subcellular level using dual intravital imaging. Cell Adhesion & Migration. 2014 Jul ;8(5):478-86

Lo Re D, Zhou Y, Nobis M, Anderson KI, Murphy PV. Synthesis of migrastatin and its macroketone analogue and in vivo FRAP analysis of the macroketone on E-cadherin dynamics. Chembiochem. 2014 Jul 7;15(10):1459-64. 

Johnsson AK*, Dai Y*, Nobis M, Baker MJ, McGhee EJ, Walker S, Schwarz JP, Kadir S, Morton JP, Myant KB, Huels DJ, Segonds-Pichon A, Sansom OJ, Anderson KI, Timpson P, Welch HC. The Rac-FRET mouse reveals tight spatiotemporal control of Rac activity in primary cells and tissues. Cell Reports. 2014 Mar 27;6(6):1153-64 

Nobis M, Carragher NO, McGhee EJ, Morton JP, Sansom OJ, Anderson KI, Timpson P. Advanced intravital subcellular imaging reveals vital three-dimensional signalling events driving cancer cell behaviour and drug responses in live tissue. FEBS Journal. 2013 Nov;280(21):5177-97 

Nobis M, McGhee EJ, Morton JP, Schwarz JP, Karim SA, Quinn J, Edward M, Campbell AD, McGarry LC, Evans TR, Brunton VG, Frame MC, Carragher NO, Wang Y, Sansom OJ, Timpson P, Anderson KI. Intravital FLIM-FRET imaging reveals dasatinib-induced spatial control of src in pancreatic cancer. Cancer Research. 2013 Aug 1;73(15):4674-86

Trinidad AG, Muller PA, Cuellar J, Klejnot M, Nobis M, Valpuesta JM, Vousden KH. Interaction of p53 with the CCT complex promotes protein folding and wild-type p53 activity. Moleluar Cell. 2013 Jun 27;50(6):805-17

Timpson P, McGhee EJ, Erami Z, Nobis M, Quinn JA, Edward M, Anderson KI. Organotypic collagen I assay: a malleable platform to assess cell behaviour in a 3-dimensional context. Journal of Visual Experiments. 2011 Oct 13;(56):e3089