Dr. Leslie Sutherland
Scientist
Regional Cancer Program
Hôpital Régional de Sudbury Regional Hospital
41 Ramsey Lake Road
Sudbury ON P3E 5J1
P: (705) 522-6237 ext. 2726
F: (705) 523-7326
lesutherland@hrsrh.on.ca
Sutherland Webpage
Current position(s)
Scientist, Research Program, Regional Cancer Program of the Hôpital Régional de Sudbury Regional Hospital, Sudbury, Ontario
Associate Professor, Division of Medical Sciences, Northern Ontario School of Medicine, Sudbury, Ontario
Associate Professor, Faculty of Medicine, Laurentian and Lakehead Universities, with cross appointment to the Dept. Chemistry/Biochemistry and the Dept. Biology, Laurentian University
Assistant Professor, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa
Education and Training
2000-2001 Research Scientist II, Segfried and Janet Weis Center for Research, Geisinger Clinic, Danville, PA, USA
1999-2000 Postdoctoral Fellow, The Pennsylvania State University, Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, USA
1995-1998 Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Biological Sciences, Keele University, Staffordshire, England
1994 Postdoctoral Fellow, Laboratoire de Biologie Moleculaire et Cellulaire, University de Bourgogne, Dijon, France
1989-1994 PhD., University of Ottawa
1987-1988 Laboratory Manager, Molecular Genetics Program, Clarke Institute of Psychiatry, Toronto
1986-1987 Intermediate Research Technician II, Ontario Cancer Institute, Toronto
1984-1987 M.Sc. University of Guelph
1983-1984 B.Sc. Honours year, University of Guelph
1979-1981 B.Sc. Dalhousie University
Awards and Honours
Premier’s Research Excellence Award (PREA) 2003
Research Funding
Cancer Care Ontario
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) 2009-14
Northern Cancer Research Foundation
Research Investigations
RBM5-related factors and cancer
The regulation of programmed cell death, or apoptosis, is fundamental to normal cellular homostasis. The balance between elimination of unnecessary or abnormal cells, and inhibition of apoptosis in normal cells is important for growth and development. Deregulation of apoptosis is one of the hallmarks of cancer. In fact, some tumour suppressor genes inhibit tumour growth by promoting apoptosis, while some oncogenes promote tumour growth by inhibiting apoptosis. One tumour suppressor that functions by promoting apoptosis is RBM5.
RBM5 is highly homologous to both RBM6 and RBM10, two proteins about which almost nothing is known The pre-mRNAs of both RBM6 and RBM10 are alternatively spliced, a process which appears to have significance in breast carcinogenesis. In my lab we pursue structure/function studies relating to RBM5, RBM6 and RBM10, in order to determine their mechanism of action and relationship to cancer.
Selected publications
Rintala-Maki, N.D. and Sutherland, L.C. Identification and characterization of a novel antisense non-coding RNA from the RBM5 gene locus. Gene. 445, 6-17, 2009 [Epub 2009 June 24]
Fushimi, K., Ray, P., Kar, A., Wang, L., Sutherland, L.C. and Wu, J.Y. Up-regulation of the pro-apoptotic caspase 2 splicing isoform by a candidate tumour suppressor, RBM5. PNAS 105(41), 15708-15713, 2008.
Wang, K., Ubriaco, G. and Sutherland, L.C. RBM6-RBM5 transcription-induced chimeras are differentially expressed in tumours. BMC Genomics 8(1): 348-359, 2007.
Rintala-Maki, N.D., Goard, C.A., Langdon, C., Wall, V.E., Traulsen, K.E.A., Morin, C.D., Bonin, M. and Sutherland, L.C. Expression of RBM5-related factors in primary breast tissue. Journal of Cellular Biochemistry 100(6): 1440-1458, 2007.
Shu, Y., Rintala-Maki, N.D., Wall, V.E., Wang, K., Goard, C.A., Langdon, C.E. and Sutherland, L.C. The apoptosis modulator and putative tumour suppressor protein RBM5 is a phosphoprotein. Cell Biochemistry and Function 25(6): 643-653, 2007.
Sutherland, L.C., Rintala-Maki, N.D., White, R.D. and Morin, C.D. RNA binding motif (RBM) proteins: A novel family of apoptosis modulators? Journal of Cellular Biochemistry 94:5-24, 2005.
Rintala-Maki, N.D., Burd, M., Abrasonis, V. and Sutherland, L.C. Genetic instability of RBM5/LUCA-15/H37 in MCF-7 breast carcinoma sublines may affect susceptibility to apoptosis. Cell Biochemistry and Function 22: 307-313, 2004.
Rintala-Maki, N.D. and Sutherland, L.C. LUCA-15/RBM5, a putative tumour supressor, enhancesmultiple receptor-initiated death signals. Apoptosis 9: 475-474, 2004.
Lab staff
Dr. Krishnan Venkataraman, Postdoctoral Fellow, kvenkataraman@hrsrh.on.ca
Nina Maki, Research Technician, nmaki@hrsrh.on.ca