Erica A. Golemis

faculty photo
Adjunct Associate Professor of Cell and Developmental Biology
Department: Cell and Developmental Biology

Contact information
W406
Fox Chase Cancer Center
333 Cottman Avenue
Philadelphia, PA 19111
Office: 215-728-2860
Fax: 215-728-3885
Education:
BA (Biology and English)
Bryn Mawr College, 1983.
Ph.D. (Biology)
MIT, 1988.
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Description of Research Expertise

Research Interests
Identifying and Targeting Signaling Hubs in Cancer

Key words: Nedd9, systems biology, Aurora kinase

Description of Research
Our laboratory is interested in defining the changes in cell signaling that occur as tumors initiate, progress, and develop resistance to drugs, with the ultimate goal of inhibiting these processes. Part of our research focuses on the study of NEDD9, a member of the Cas protein family. NEDD9 acts as a scaffold for signaling proteins that play essential roles in cancer progression and normal organismal development. Part of the laboratory also addresses the biological functions of NEDD9-interacting proteins, including particularly an oncogenic kinase, Aurora-A. Complementary projects use computer-based bioinformatic approaches to look for genes that sensitize cells to therapies targeted against cancer-promoting proteins such as EGFR. We hope through these studies to better define the interactions of signaling pathways in malignant versus normal cells, allowing improvements in cancer diagnosis and treatment.

Rotation Projects
(full details available at http://www.fccc.edu/research/pid/golemis/index.html)

1. Studies of NEDD9 and related proteins in tumor pathology and organismal development.

1(a). Analyses of Nedd9-/- in the MMTV-PyVT model for mammary tumors.
Mahendra Singh, in collaboration with Eugene Izumchenko, Andres Klein-Szanto, Denise Connolly, Richard Hardy, Brian Egleston, Marina Wolfson (Ben Gurion University), Sachiko Seo (University of Tokyo) & Mineo Kurokawa (University of Tokyo)

1(b). Analysis of why the incidence of HER2-associated breast cancer is greatly reduced in mice lacking NEDD9.
Joy Little, in collaboration with Andres Klein-Szanto, Denise Connolly, Sachiko Seo (University of Tokyo) & Mineo Kurokawa (University of Tokyo)

1(c). Unraveling roles for Nedd9 and related proteins in organismal development.
Nadezhda Tikhmyanova, in collaboration with Fabrice Roegiers & Alexei Tulin

2. Interactions between the Aurora-A and NEDD9 oncogenes in disease and therapy.

2(a). Roles for Aurora-A and NEDD9/HEF1 in Polycystic Kidney Disease and Calcium Signaling.
Olga Plotnikova, in collaboration with Roland Dunbrack, Jr, Elena Pugacheva (Mary Babb Randolph Cancer Center, West Virginia University) & Gregory Germina (National Institutes of Health)

2(b). Exploring therapeutic synergies by inhibiting the two NEDD9 partners, Aurora-A and Src.
Vladimir Ratushny, in collaboration with Tim Yen & Andrew Godwin (University of Kansas Medical School)

3. Understanding Drug Resistance Networks

3(a). Integrating informatics and RNAi to improve response to EGFR-targeting therapeutics.

3(b). A Systems Biology Approach to Identifying the Molecular Determinants of Cell Survival in Breast Cancer.
Rochelle Nasto & Ilya Serebriiskii, in collaboration with Louis Weiner (Lombardi Cancer Center, Georgetown, MD) & Robert Clarke (Lombardi Cancer Center, Georgetown, MD)


Lab personnel:
Ilya G. Serebriiskii, Ph.D., Assistant Professor
Natalya Skobeleva, Ph.D., Research Associate
Joy Little, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Trainee
Hanqing Liu, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Associate
Anna Nikonova, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Associate
Olga Plotnikova, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Associate
Tamina Seeger-Nukpezah, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Associate
Mahendra K. Singh, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Associate
Nadia Tikhmyanova, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Associate (through January 2011)
Vladimir Ratushny, B.S., Graduate Student (through January 2011)
Rochelle Nasto, B.S., Graduate Student

Selected Publications

Dadke D, Jarnik M, Pugacheva EN, Singh MK. and Golemis EA.: Deregulation of HEF1 impairs M-phase progression by disrupting the RhoA activation cycle. Mol Biol Cell 17(3): 1204-1217, 2006.

Singh MK., Nicolas E, Gherraby W, Dadke D, Lessin S and Golemis EA.: HEI10 negatively regulates cell invasion by inhibiting cyclin B/Cdk1 and other pro-motility proteins. Oncogene 26(33): 4825-4832, 2007.

O’Neill GM, Seo S, Serebriiskii IG, Lessin SR and Golemis EA.: A new central scaffold for metastasis: parsing HEF1/Cas-L/NEDD9. Cancer Res 67(19): 8975-8979, 2007.

Pugacheva EN, Jablonski SA., Hartman TR, Henske EP and Golemis EA.: HEF1-dependent Aurora A activation induces disassembly of the primary cilium. Cell 129(7): 1351-1363, 2007.

Singh MK, Dadke D, Nicolas E, Serebriiskii IG, Apostolou S, Canutescu A, Egleston BL and Golemis EA.: A novel Cas-family member, HEPL, regulates FAK and cell spreading. Mol Biol Cell 19: 1627-1636, 2008.

Izumchenko E, Singh MK, Plotnikova OV, Tikhmyanova N, Little JL, Serebriiskii IG, Seo S, Kurokawa M, Egleston BL, Klein-Szanto A, Pugacheva EN, Hardy RR, Wolfson M, Connolly DC and Golemis EA.: NEDD9 promotes oncogenic signaling in mammary tumor development. Cancer Res 69(18): 7198-7206, 2009.

Singh MK, Izumchenko E, Klein-Szanto A, Egleston BL, Wolfson M and Golemis EA.: Enhanced genetic instability and dasatinib sensitivity in mammary tumor cells lacking Nedd9. Cancer Res 70(21): 8907-8916, 2010.

Tikhmyanova N, Tulin A, Roegiers F and Golemis EA.: Dcas supports cell polarization and cell-cell adhesion complexes in development. PLoS One 5(8), 2010.

Plotnikova OV, Pugacheva EN, Dunbrack RL, Jr. and Golemis EA.: Rapid calcium-dependent activation of Aurora-A kinase. Nature Commun 1(6): 1-8, 2010.

Astsaturov I, Ratushny V, Sukhanova A, Einarson M, Bagnyukova T, Zhou Y, Devarajan K, Silverman JS, Tikhmyanova N, Skobeleva N, Pecherskaya A, Sharma, C, Nasto R, Jablonski SJ, Serebriiskii IG, Weiner LM and Golemis EA.: Synthetic lethal screen of EGFR-centered network to improve targeted therapies. Sci Signal 3(140): ra67, 2010.

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Last updated: 08/23/2017
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