Christiansen Frew, Ailsa Jane, Dr.

Research Interests

• Tumour-derived lymphangiogenic factors and their role in systemic immune modulation and metastasis
• In vivo imaging of metastasis and lymphangiogenesis

Education and Positions held

2010 - present
Postdoctoral Researcher, Laboratory of Prof. Dr. Michael Detmar, Institute of Pharmaceutical Science, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH), Zürich.

2009 - 2010
Postdoctoral Researcher, Gene Regulation Laboratory, Cancer Immunology and Cancer Therapeutics Programs, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne Australia.

2005 - 2009
PhD, University of Melbourne. Gene Regulation Laboratory and Cellular Immunity Laboratory, Cancer Immunology Division, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre, Melbourne, Australia.
Thesis title: ‘Harnessing apoptosis and anti-tumour immunity for the treatment of solid malignancies.’
Supervisors: Associate Professor Ricky Johnstone and Professor Mark Smyth

2004
Research Assistant, Signal Transduction Laboratory, St Vincent’s Institute, Melbourne, Australia.

2002 - 2003
Research Assistant, Chromatin and Transcriptional Regulation Laboratory, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Canberra, Australia.

2001
Research Assistant, Immunopathology Research Group, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Canberra, Australia.

2000
Honours research student, Australian National University, Allergy and Inflammation Research Group, John Curtin School of Medical Research, Canberra, Australia.
Thesis title: Mechanisms of interleukin-13 induced airways hyperreactivity
Supervisors: Professor Paul Foster and Professor Suresh Mahalingam

1997 - 1999
Bachelor of Science, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia

Publications

2012
West AC*, Christiansen AJ*, Smyth MJ, Johnstone RW. (2012) The combination of histone deacetylase inhibitors with immune-stimulating antibodies has potent anti-cancer effects. OncoImmunology 1,3: 0-2
* = equal contributors

2011
Christiansen AJ, West A., Banks KM., Haynes NM., Teng MW., Smyth MJ., Johnstone RW., (2011) Eradication of solid tumors using histone deacetylase inhibitors combined with immune-stimulating antibodies. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA, 108: 4141-6

Christiansen AJ., Detmar M. (2011) Lymphangiogenesis and Cancer. Genes & Cancer, published online 3 October 2011

Martin BP, Frew AJ, Bots M, Fox S, Long F, Takeda K, Yagita H, Atadja P, Smyth MJ, Johnstone RW. (2011) Anti-tumor activities and on-target toxicities mediated by a TRAIL receptor agonist following co-treatment with panobinostat. Int J Cancer. 128 (11):2735-47.

2009
Frew AJ, Johnstone RW, and Bolden JE. Enhancing the apoptotic and therapeutic effects of HDAC inhibitors. Cancer Letters, 2009 Aug 8; 280(2): 125-133.

2008
Johnstone RW, Frew AJ, Smyth MJ. The TRAIL apoptotic pathway in cancer onset, progression and therapy. Nature Reviews Cancer. 2008 Oct;8(10):782-98.

Frew AJ, Lindemann RK, Martin BP, Clarke CJ, Sharkey J, Anthony DA, Banks KM, Haynes NM, Gangatirkar P, Stanley K, Bolden JE, Takeda K, Yagita H, Secrist JP, Smyth MJ, Johnstone RW.
Combination therapy of established cancer using a histone deacetylase inhibitor and a TRAIL receptor agonist. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Aug 12;105(32):11317-22.

2007
Lindemann RK, Newbold A, Whitecross KF, Cluse LA, Frew AJ, Ellis L, Williams S, Wiegmans AP, Dear AE, Scott CL, Pellegrini M, Wei A, Richon VM, Marks PA, Lowe SW, Smyth MJ, Johnstone RW.
Analysis of the apoptotic and therapeutic activities of histone deacetylase inhibitors by using a mouse model of B cell lymphoma. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007 May 8;104(19):8071-6.

2006
Yang M, Rangasamy D, Matthaei KI, Frew AJ, Zimmermann N, Mahalingam S, Webb DC, Tremethick DJ, Thompson PJ, Hogan SP, Rothenberg ME, Cowden WB, Foster PS.
Inhibition of arginase I activity by RNA interference attenuates IL-13-induced airways hyperresponsiveness. J Immunol. 2006 Oct 15;177(8):5595-603.