Dr Sharissa Latham
Biography
Sharissa completed her PhD with Dr. Valery Combes and Prof. Georges Grau at the University of Sydney in 2015, where she studied the role of the actin cytoskeleton in extracellular vesicle shedding and specialized in advanced imaging methodologies incorporating both light and electron microscopy. Following her PhD, Sharissa commenced postdoctoral studies with Prof. Dietmar Manstein at Hannover Medical School, Germany, where she investigated the role of actomyosin complexes in intracellular trafficking, sarcomere assembly and rare diseases. During this time, Sharissa co-led a study that characterized a previously undescribed actin-based disease, named ACTB-Associated Syndromic Thrombocytopenia (Latham et al., 2018, Nature Communications).
Sharissa returned to Australia in 2018 to join Dr. David Croucher in the Network Biology Group at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. Building on her experience in cytoskeletal biology and advanced imaging approaches, Sharissa’s research aims to develop novel therapeutic approaches that target actin-microtubule crosstalk for the treatment of triple negative breast cancers.
Sharissa completed her PhD with Dr. Valery Combes and Prof. Georges Grau at the University of Sydney in 2015, where she studied the role of the actin cytoskeleton in extracellular vesicle shedding and specialized in advanced imaging methodologies incorporating both light and electron microscopy. Following her PhD, Sharissa commenced postdoctoral studies with Prof. Dietmar Manstein at Hannover Medical School, Germany, where she investigated the role of actomyosin complexes in intracellular trafficking, sarcomere assembly and rare diseases. During this time, Sharissa co-led a study that characterized a previously undescribed actin-based disease, named ACTB-Associated Syndromic Thrombocytopenia (Latham et al., 2018, Nature Communications).
Sharissa returned to Australia in 2018 to join Dr. David Croucher in the Network Biology Group at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research. Building on her experience in cytoskeletal biology and advanced imaging approaches, Sharissa’s research aims to develop novel therapeutic approaches that target actin-microtubule crosstalk for the treatment of triple negative breast cancers.
Awards and Honours
2013 - Sydney Medical School Postgraduate Research Scholarship
2013 - Young Investigator Fellowship – 28th European Cytoskeletal Forum in Fribourg, Switzerland
2012 - Miltenyi Biotec – travel award
2011 - Australian Vascular Biology Society (AVBS) meeting - presentation award
Education
2010 - BSc Hons, University of Sydney - Australia
Selected Publications
Kennedy S.P, Han J.Z.R, Portman N, Nobis M, Hastings J.F, Murphy K.J, Latham S.L, Cadell A.L, Miladinovic D, Marriott G.R, O’Donnell Y.E, Shearer R.F, Williams J.T, Munoz A.G, Cox T.R, Watkins D.N, Saunders D.N, Timpson P, Lim E, Kolch W and Croucher D.R. Targeting promiscuous heterodimerization overcomes innate resistance to ERBB2 dimerization inhibitors in breast cancer. Breast Cancer Res 21(1), 2019.
Latham S.L*,#, Ehmke N*, Reinke P.Y.A, Taft M.H., Eicke D, Reindl T, Stenzel W, Lyons M.J, Friez M.J, Lee J.A, Hecker R, Fruewald M.C, Becker K, Neuhann T.M, Horn D, Schrock E, Niehaus I, Sarnow K, Gruetzmann K, Gawehn L, Klink B, Rump A, Chaponnier C, Figueiredo C, Knoefler R, Manstein D.J# and DiDonato N#. Variants in exons 5 and 6 of ACTB cause syndromic thrombocytopenia. Nat Commun 9(1), 2018. *Co-first and #co-corresponding author
Eicke D, et al. Large-scale production of megakaryocytes in microcarrier-supported stirred suspension bioreactors. Sci Rep 8(1), 2018.
Pathan-Chhatbar S, Taft M, Reindl T, Hundt N, Latham S.L. and Manstein D.J. Three mammalian tropomyosin isoforms have different regulatory effects on nonmuscle myosin-2B and filamentous beta-actin in vitro. J Biol Chem, 293(3), 2018.
Behrens V., Munich S, Adler-Gunzekmann G, Thiel C, Henn A, Latham S.L and Taft M.H. The conserved lysine-265 allosterically modulates nucleotide- and actin-binding site coupling in myosin-2. Sci Rep 7(1), 2017.
Marzook N.B, Latham S.L, Lynn H, Mckenzie C, Chaponnier C, Grau G.E.R and Newsome T.P. Divergent roles of β and γ actin isoforms during spread of vaccinia virus. Cytoskeleton, 74(4), 2017. *Journal cover image
Tiberti N, Latham S.L, Bush S, Cohen A, Opoka R.O, John C.C, Juillard A, Grau G.E.R and Combes V. Exploring experimental cerebral malaria pathogenesis through the characterisation of host-derived plasma microparticle protein content. Sci Rep 5(6), 2016.
Zinger A, Latham S.L, Combes V, Byrne S, Barnett M.H, Hawke S and Grau G.E.R. Plasma levels of endothelial and B-cell-derived microparticles are restored by fingolimod treatment in multiple sclerosis patients. Multiple Sclerosis Journal, 22(14), 2016.
Lilly D, Latham S.L, Webb C and Doggett S. Cuticle thickening in a Pyrethroid-resistant strain of the common bed bug. Plos One, 11(4), 2016.
Latham S.L, Tiberti N, Gokoolparsadh N, Holdaway K, Olivier Couraud P, Grau G.E.R and Combes V. Immuno-analysis of microparticles: probing at the limits of detection. Sci Rep, 10(5), 2015.
Wheway J, Latham S.L, Combes V and Grau G.E.R. Endothelial microparticles interact with and support the proliferation of T cells. J Immunol, 193(7), 2014.
Latham S.L*, Chaponnier C, Dugina V, Couraud P.O, Grau G.E.R and Combes V. Co-operation between beta- and gamma-cytoplasmic actins in the mechanical regulation of endothelial microparticle formation. FASEB J, 27(2), 2013. *First and corresponding author
Walters S.B, Kieckbusch J, Nagalingam G, Swain A, Latham S.L, Grau G.E.R, Britton W.J, Combes V and Saunders B.M. Microparticles from mycobacteria-infected macrophages promote inflammation and cellular migration. J Immunol, 190(2), 2013.
