ROCK-INDUCED EARLY-ONSET BOWEL CANCER PROGRESSION
Professor Michael Samuel
Head, Tumour Microenvironment Laboratory
Centre for Cancer Biology
SA Pathology and University of South Australia &
Principal Investigator at the Cancer Mechanotherapies Laboratory,
Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Health Research
Adelaide, South Australia, Australia
RESEARCHER PROFILE
Filmed in Adelaide, South Australia | January 2025
Michael Samuel is a cell biologist whose research interest is in understanding how cancer mechanobiology influences the tumour microenvironment, thereby promoting tumour progression. He is Professor of Matrix Biology at the University of South Australia, Adelaide and heads the Tumour Microenvironment Laboratory at the Centre for Cancer Biology and the Cancer Mechanotherapies Laboratory at the Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Health Research.
He obtained his Ph.D. from the University of Melbourne in 2004, working with Prof. Matthias Ernst at the Ludwig Institute. He then joined the laboratory of Prof. Mike Olson at the Beatson Institute for Cancer Research, Glasgow, with whom he identified the role of the Rho-ROCK signalling pathway in regulating tumour-promoting mechanical properties of the dermal extracellular matrix. He returned to Australia in 2012 to join the Centre for Cancer Biology as a Laboratory Head.
Discoveries from his laboratory include a role for the ER-stress protein CRELD2 in the recruitment and education of cancer-associated fibroblasts and the roles of Rho-ROCK signalling in the tumour immune microenvironment. He has been awarded an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship, an Emerging Leader Award by the Australia and New Zealand Society for Cell and Developmental Biology (2020), the Barry Preston Award for leadership in the field, by the Matrix Biology Society of Australia and New Zealand (2021) and the Australian Breast Cancer Fellowship by The Hospital Research Foundation (2023).
In April 2024, Bowel Cancer Australia announced a team led by Professor Michael Samuel as the successful applicant for a three-year AUD$600k early-onset bowel cancer research project through the 2023 round of Cancer Australia’s Priority-driven Collaborative Cancer Research Scheme (PdCCRS).
Professor Samuel of the Centre for Cancer Biology (an alliance between the University of South Australia and SA Pathology) and the Basil Hetzel Institute for Translational Health Research are investigating ROCK-induced early-onset bowel cancer progression.
His team will also be examining whether proteins that interact with ROCK cause early-onset bowel cancer progression, and if they do, targeting these proteins would be a way of stopping ROCK from accelerating tumour growth.
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Dietary Interventions Influencing Neurological Outcomes
With over a decade of experience as a dietitian and nutritionist, Carolina Blagojevic Castro specialises in providing personalised dietary guidance and customised meal planning tailored to meet each client’s unique health needs. She is known for her engaging and educational presentations on topics related to health and nutrition, sharing practical, evidence-based insights with both community groups and professional audiences.
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Relationship between language-literacy skills and mental health
In an innovative move towards enhancing mental health services, Associate Professor Amanda Neil and team, supported by the RHH Research Foundation, are undertaking a crucial study on language-literacy skills of patients within mental health care settings. This year-long project, which commenced in April 2024, seeks to unravel to what extent, where and for whom language-literacy skills are being considered in Tasmanian mental health service provision.
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Liver cancer biomarkers, risk prediction & progression
Dr. Rodrigo Carlessi is an expert in Cancer Genomics and Molecular Biology, with an extensive track record in liver cancer research. He leads the Cancer Genomics Group within the Liver Disease and Regeneration Laboratory at the Curtin Medical Research Institute. He has an impressive publication record, with 43 manuscripts that have collectively garnered over 2,680 citations. His research leverages cutting-edge genomics and transcriptomics technologies, as well as long-read DNA sequencing, to explore mechanisms, identify biomarkers, and develop therapeutic targets in liver disease and cancer.
