MARC THERRIEN, Ph.D.
- Principal Investigator, Intracellular Signalling Laboratory, Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer
- Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal
AWARDS & HONOURS
- Canada Research Chair in Intracellular Signalling, 2004-
- Scholar, Canadian Institutes of Health Research, 1999-2004
- Centennial Postdoctoral Fellow, Medical Research Council of Canada, 1996-1998
- Postdoctoral Fellow, National Cancer Institute of Canada, 1993-1996
TRAINING
- Postdoctoral training with Gerald M. Rubin, University of California at Berkeley,
1993-1998
- Ph.D. in biochemistry with Jacques Drouin, Clinical Research Institute of Montreal, Université de Montréal, 1993
RESEARCH SUPPORT
- Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute
- Canadian Institutes of Health Research
Marc Therrien is a principal investigator at the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) and holds the Canada Research Chair in Intracellular Signalling. With his team, he devotes his research to the study of the signalling mechanisms involved in cellular differentiation and cellular division.
After completing his Ph.D. in biochemistry at the Université de Montréal, Marc Therrien wanted to develop a greater understanding of the intracellular signalling process using drosophilia. He considers this multi-cellular organism, which he still uses today, to be a highly effective model to explore fundamental questions in biology, the answers to which can then be used in the study of human biology.
Thus, he went on to do his postdoctoral training at the University of California at Berkeley. His work there focused on how cells perceive extra-cellular signals and how these signals are then sent to different sites in the cell to stimulate a response. The research group Marc Therrien belonged to identified several genes that function in concert with RAS, a notorious oncogene. The group also noted that the network which allows a cell to receive signals is far more complex than ever anticipated.
In 1999, Marc Therrien returned to Quebec to set up his laboratory at the Clinical Research Institute of Montreal. In 2003, he joined IRIC as one of its founding principal investigators. The team he leads at IRIC continues its work on how signals are transmitted from one molecule to another, specifically in the RAS signalling pathway. The group is also interested in pathways parallel to the RAS pathway, namely one that allows cells to adhere to one another. It is already known that cancer cells become metastatic, in other words that they loose their adhesion capability. Dr Therrien and his group seek to understand how the signalling pathway that controls cell adhesion communicates with the RAS pathway, which controls cellular proliferation.
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
Rajakulendran T, Sahmi M, Lefrançois M, Sicheri F, Therrien M. (2009) A dimerization-dependent mechanism drives RAF catalytic activation. Nature, prepublished online 02 Sept, 2009; DOI: 10.1038/nature08314
Baril C, Sahmi M, Ashton-Beaucage D, Stronach B, Therrien M (2009) The PP2C Alphabet Is a Negative Regulator of Stress-Activated Protein Kinase Signaling in Drosophila. Genetics 181: 567-579
Rajakulendran T, Sahmi M, Kurinov I, Tyers M, Therrien M, Sicheri F. (2008) CNK and HYP form a discrete dimer by their SAM domains to mediate RAF kinase signaling. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 105: 2836-2841
Clapéron A and Therrien M (2007) KSR and CNK: two scaffolds regulating RAS-mediated RAF activation. Oncogene 26:3143-3158
Douziech M, Sahmi M, Laberge G, Therrien M (2006) A KSR/CNK complex mediated by HYP, a novel SAM domain-containing protein, regulates RAS-dependent RAF activation in Drosophila. Genes Dev 20:807-819
Baril C and Therrien M (2006) Alphabet, a Ser/Thr phosphatase of the protein phosphatase 2C family, negatively regulates RAS/MAPK signaling in Drosophila. Dev Biol 294:232-245
Laberge G, Douziech M, Therrien M (2005) Src42 binding activity regulates Drosophila RAF by a novel CNK-dependent derepression mechanism. Embo J 24:487-498
Douziech M, Roy F, Laberge G, Lefrançois M, Armengod AV, Therrien M (2003) Bimodal regulation of RAF by CNK in Drosophila. Embo J 22:5068-5078
Roy F and Therrien M (2002) MAP kinase module: the Ksr connection. Curr Biol 12:R325-327
Roy F, Laberge G, Douziech M, Ferland-McCollough D, Therrien M (2002) KSR is a scaffold required for activation of the ERK/MAPK module. Genes Dev 16:427-438
Therrien M, Morrison DK, Wong AM, Rubin GM (2000) A genetic screen for modifiers of a kinase suppressor of Ras-dependent rough eye phenotype in Drosophila. Genetics 156:1231-1242
Therrien M, Wong AM, Kwan E, Rubin GM (1999) Functional analysis of CNK in RAS signaling. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 96:13259-13263
Therrien M, Wong AM, Rubin GM (1998) CNK, a RAF-binding multidomain protein required for RAS signaling. Cell 95:343-353
Therrien M, Michaud NR, Rubin GM, Morrison DK (1996) KSR modulates signal propagation within the MAPK cascade. Genes Dev 10:2684-2695
Therrien M, Chang HC, Solomon NM, Karim FD, Wassarman DA, Rubin GM (1995) KSR, a novel protein kinase required for RAS signal transduction. Cell 83:879-888
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