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About

I am an Clinical Haematologist practising clinical medicine at the Royal Melbourne Hospital / Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and leading translational research at WEHI and the University of Melbourne.

After training in haematology in Brisbane, I did my PhD with Professor Donald Metcalf at WEHI, then a post-doc with Dr David Williams in the USA before returning to WEHI and The Royal Melbourne Hospital.

I have been an academic leader in the clinical development of the novel targeted anti-cancer drug, venetoclax, from concept through preclinical development and clinical trials to registration. Currently I serve as Deputy Editor of Blood, the most cited journal in haematology.

My long-term research interests are the development of new treatments for haematological malignancies, focussing especially on those blood cancers that are currently incurable.. My lab collaborates closely with the clinical and laboratory researchers across the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre, and with translational research colleagues at WEHI, especially my long term collaborator Professor David Huang.

Major focuses of our research include:

  • molecular basis of leukemogenesis and lymphomagenesis
  • molecular basis of resistance to chemotherapy and targeted therapies
  • BCL-2 inhibitors and BH3 mimetics
  • clinical trials of novel therapies

Publications

Selected publications from Prof Andrew Roberts

Roberts AW, Davids MS, Pagel JM, Kahl BS, Puvvada SD, Gerecitano JF, Kipps TJ, Anderson MA, Brown JR, Gressick L, Wong S, Dunbar M, Zhu M, Desai MB, Cerri E, Enschede SH, Humerickhouse RA, Wierda WG, Seymour JF. Targeting BCL2 with Venetoclax in Relapsed Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. N Engl J Med 2016; 374(4):311-22. PMID: 26639348

Seymour JF, Ma S, Brander DM, Choi MY, Barrientos J, Davids MS, Anderson MA, Beaven AW, Rosen ST, Tam CS, Prine B, Agarwal SK, Munasinghe W, Zhu M, Lash L, Desai M, Cerri E, Verdugo M, Kim SY, Humerickhouse RA, Gordon GB, Kipps TJ, Roberts AW. Venetoclax plus rituximab in relapsed or refractory chronic lymphocytic leukaemia: a phase 1b study. Lancet Oncol 2017; 18(2):230-240. PMID: 28089635

Tam CS, Anderson MA, Pott C, Agarwal R, Handunnetti S, Hicks RJ, Burbury K, Turner G, Di Iulio JD, Bressel M, Westerman D, Lade S, Dreyling M, Dawson SJ, Dawson MA, Seymour JF, Roberts AW. Ibrutinib plus venetoclax for the treatment of Mantle Cell Lymphoma. N Engl J Med 2018; 378(13):1211-1223. PMID: 29590547

Blombery P, Anderson MA, Gong JN, Thijssen R, Birkinshaw RW, Thompson ER, Teh CE, Nguyen T, Xu Z, Flensburg C, Lew TE, Majewski IJ, Gray DHD, Westerman DA, Tam CS, Seymour JF, Czabotar PE, Huang DCS, Roberts AW. Acquisition of the recurrent Gly101Val mutation in BCL2 confers resistance to venetoclax in patients with progressive chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Cancer Discov 2019; 9(3):342-353. PMID: 30514704

Roberts AW, Wei AH, Huang DCS. BCL2 inhibitors and MCL1 inhibitors for hematological malignancies. Blood 2021;138(13):1120-1136. PMID: 34320168

Thijssen R, Tian L, Anderson MA, Flensburg C, Jarratt A, Garnham AL, Jabbari JS, Peng H, Lew TE, Teh CE, Gouil Q, Georgiou A, Tan T, Djajawi TM, Tam CS, Seymour JF, Blombery P, Gray DHD, Majewski IJ, Ritchie ME*, Roberts AW*, Huang DCS*. Single-cell multiomics reveal the scale of multi-layered adaptations enabling CLL relapse during venetoclax therapy. Blood 2022 Nov 17;140(20):2127-2141. PMID: 35709339

Anderson MA, Deng J, Seymour JF, Tam C, Kim SY, Fein J, Yu L, Brown JR, Westerman D, Si EG, Majewski IJ, Segal D, Heitner Enschede SL, Huang DCS, Davids MS, Letai A, Roberts AW. The BCL2 Selective Inhibitor Venetoclax Induces Rapid Onset Apoptosis of CLL Cells in Patients via a TP53 Independent Mechanism. Blood 2016 Jun;127(25):3215-24 PMID: 27069256

Gong JN, Khong T, Segal D, Yao Y, Riffkin CD, Garnier JM, Khaw SL, Lessene G, Spencer A, Herold MJ, Roberts AW, Huang DC. Hierarchy for targeting pro-survival BCL2 family proteins in multiple myeloma: pivotal role of MCL1. Blood 2016 128(14):1834-1844 PMID: 27465916

Stilgenbauer S, Eichorst B, Schetelig J, Coutre S, Seymour JF, Munir T, Puvvada SD, Wendtner CM, Roberts AW, Jurczak W, Mulligan SP, Bottcher S, Mobasher M, Zhu M, Desai M, Chyla B, Verdugo M, Heitner Enschede S, Cerri E, Humerickhouse R, Gordon G, Hallek M, Wierda WG. Venetoclax in Relapsed/Refractory Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia with 17p Deletion: a Pivotal Phase 2, Open Label, Multicenter Study. Lancet Oncol 2016; 17(6):768-78. PMID: 27178240

Davids MS, Roberts AW, Seymour JF, Pagel JM, Kahl BS, Wierda WG, Puvvada S, Kipps TJ, Anderson MA, Salem AH, Dunbar M, Zhu M, Peale F, Ross JA, Gressick L, Desai M, Kim SY, Verdugo M, Humerickhouse RA, Gordon GB, Gerecitano JF. Phase I First-in-Human Study of Venetoclax in Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma. J Clin Oncol 2017; 35(8):826-833. PMID: 28095146

Kotschy A, Szlavik Z, Murray J, Davidson J, Maragno AL, Le Toumelin-Braizat G, Chanrion M, Kelly GL, Gong JN, Moujalled DM, Bruno A, Csekei M, Paczal A, Szabo ZB, Sipos S, Radics G, Proszenyak A, Balint B, Ondi L, Blasko G, Robertson A, Surgenor A, Dokurno P, Chen I, Matassova N, Smith J, Pedder C, Graham C, Studeny A, Lysiak-Auvity G, Girard AM, Gravé F, Segal D, Riffkin CD, Pomilio G, Galbraith LC, Aubrey BJ, Brennan MS, Herold MJ, Chang C, Guasconi G, Cauquil N, Melchiore F, Guigal-Stephan N, Lockhart B, Colland F, Hickman JA, Roberts AW, Huang DC, Wei AH, Strasser A, Lessene G, Geneste O. The MCL1 inhibitor S63845 is tolerable and effective in diverse cancer models. Nature 2016; 538(7626):477-482. PMID: 27760111

Souers AJ, Leverson JD, Boghaert ER, Ackler SL, Catron ND, Chen J, Dayton BD, Ding H, Enschede SH, Fairbrother WJ, Huang DCS, Hymowitz SG, Jin S, Khaw SL, Kovar PJ, Lam LT, Lee J, Maecker HL, Marsh KC, Mason KD, Mitten MJ, Nimmer PM, Oleksijew A, Park CH, Park CM, Phillips DC, Roberts AW, Sampath D, Seymour JF, Smith ML, Sullivan GM, Tahir SK, Tse C, Wendt MD, Xiao Y, Xue JC, Zhang HC, Humerickhouse RA, Rosenberg SH, Elmore SW. ABT-199, a potent and selective BCL-2 inhibitor, achieves antitumor activity while sparing platelets. Nature Medicine. 2013 Feb;19(2):202-8. PMID: 23291630.

Roberts AW, Seymour JF, Brown JR, Wierda WG, Kipps TJ, Khaw SL, Carney DA, He SZ, Huang DCS, Xiong H, Cui Y, Busman TA, McKeegan EM, Krivoshik AP, Enschede SH, Humerickhouse R. Substantial Susceptibility of Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia to BCL2 Inhibition: Results of a Phase I Study of Navitoclax in Patients With Relapsed or Refractory Disease. Journal of Clinical Oncology. 2012 Feb;30(5):488-96. PMID: 22184378.

Mason KD, Carpinelli MR, Fletcher JI, Collinge JE, Hilton AA, Ellis S, Kelly PN, Ekert PG, Metcalf D, Roberts AW, Huang DC, Kile BT. Programmed anuclear cell death delimits platelet life span. Cell. 2007 Mar 23;128(6):1173-86. PMID: 17382885.

van Delft MF, Wei AH, Mason KD, Vandenberg CJ, Chen L, Czabotar PE, Willis SN, Scott CL, Day CL, Cory S, Adams JM, Roberts AW, Huang DC. The BH3 mimetic ABT-737 targets selective Bcl-2 proteins and efficiently induces apoptosis via Bak/Bax if Mcl-1 is neutralized. Cancer Cell. 2006 Nov;10(5):389-99. PMID: 17097561.

Lab research projects

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