Title:
Research assistant professor

Institute:
Université de Montréal, CRCHUM, Institut du cancer de Montréal

Department:  
Department of radiology, radio-oncology and nuclear medicine.

Province:
Quebec

Research interests:
Identification of cellular and tissue mediators of the mammalian DNA damage response.  This important biological phenomenon is involved in human aging, cancer development, and influences the outcome of cancer therapy.

Recognitions:
2011 FRSQ Junior 1 scholarship award, Fonds de recherche santé Québec.
2010 GOC-GSK Cervical Cancer Research Award, Society of Gynecological Oncology of Canada.

Career highlights:
The discovery that a novel and important role of the DNA damage response (DDR) is to allow damaged cells to communicate their compromised state to the surrounding microenvironment. Rodier F, et al. Persistent DNA damage signalling triggers senescence-associated inflammatory cytokine secretion. Nat Cell Biol. 2009 Aug;11(8):973-9).
The discovery that irreparable DNA double-strand breaks develop into persistent nuclear features termed DNA Segments with Chromatin Alterations Reinforcing Senescence (DNA- SCARS). Rodier F, et al. DNA-SCARS: distinct nuclear structures that sustain damage-induced senescence growth arrest and inflammatory cytokine secretion. J Cell Sci. 2011 Jan 1;124(Pt 1):68-81.
The discovery that oncogenic polyomavirus large-T antigen (PyLT) confers apoptosis resistance, a key early step in tumor progression, Rodier F, et al. Polyomavirus large T-antigen protects mouse cells from Fas-, TNF-alpha- and taxol induced apoptosis. Oncogene. 2000 Dec 14;19(54):6261-70.

Research Projects

Project title:
Molecular detection of lymph node metastasis in uterine cervical carcinoma

Funding period:  
2010-2012

Program:
Operating Grant (Basic Research)

Summary:
The presence of lymph node metastasis in uterine cervical carcinoma (UCC) influences therapeutic management and patient survival. The gold standard for metastasis detection is histology. However, histology lacks sensitivity for micrometastases detection and is not efficient for immediate diagnoses during surgery. Another alternative, molecular biology-based fast detection using targeted quantitative DNA amplification, is very efficient in breast cancer but its specificity in UCC has to be tested and optimized. Our objective is to constitute a patient bank containing genetic and clinical information. This genetic information will be used to test and improve molecular markers for UCC metastasis. These markers will be validated using comparisons to traditional histological results and evaluated for their capacity to detect lymph nodes micrometastasis. As long term aims, we wish to develop a reliable molecular diagnosis method useful during surgery and to improve our knowledge about the role of micrometastases in the clinical evolution of UCC.

CRS publications:

Rodier F, and Campisi J. Four faces of cellular senescence. J Cell Biol. 2011 Feb 21;192(4):547-56.