Dr. Sharon M. Gorski

Titles and Education

Titles

Head of Programmed Cell Death, Genome Sciences Centre, British Columbia Cancer Agency
Associate Professor, Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry, Simon Fraser University

Education

B.Sc., Biology (honours), Science Co-operative Education Program, Certificate Program in Liberal Arts, Simon Fraser University
M.Sc., Genetics, Department of Medical Genetics, University of British Columbia
Ph.D., Developmental Biology, Division of Biology and Biomedical Sciences, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, USA

Research Interests

Autophagy (= "self-eating") is a vesicle-mediated cellular process of protein and organelle degradation. Autophagy enables cell survival during nutrient starvation and also plays a role in differentiation, development, tissue remodeling, aging, and autophagic programmed cell death. Recently, the field of autophagy has attracted increased attention because of its association with cancer and other human diseases such as cardiomyopathies, bacterial and viral infections, and neurodegenerative disorders. Autophagy has also been implicated in the cellular response to anti-cancer therapies. However, the role of autophagy in these processes is poorly understood.

Our research program is focused on understanding the role of autophagy in cell death and cell survival, and its implications for cancer development and cancer therapy. In addition, we are interested in investigating the relationships between autophagy and apoptosis. Current research projects are in the following areas:

• Identifiying and characterizing regulators of apoptosis, autophagy, and autophagic cell death. Projects employ genetics, gene expression, functional genomics, and protein-protein interaction approaches to identify and characterize factors required for cell death and autophagy in the Drosophila model system. Human orthologs of genes discovered in Drosophila will be tested for similar roles in human cell line systems.
• Exploring the effects of altered autophagy in anti-cancer therapy. To test whether alteration in autophagy levels can affect sensitivity to endocrine therapy, chemotherapy and/or irradiation, an autophagy gene-siRNA based strategy is being employed in human breast and other cancer cell lines. The effects of siRNA-mediated autophagy gene knockdown on cellular signaling pathways are also being explored. In addition, we are developing high throughput assays to screen libraries for autophagy inhibitors and activators.
  

Selected Publications

Chittaranjan S, McConechy M, Hou YC, Freeman JD, DeVorkin L and Gorski SM. Steroid hormone control of cell death and cell survival: molecular insights using RNAi. Plos Genetics. 2009, 5(2) e/000379.

Hannigan AM, Gorski SM. Macroautophagy: The key ingredient to a healthy diet? Autophagy. 2009 Feb 3;5(2): 140-51.Abstract

Hou YC, Hannigan AM, Gorski SM. An executioner caspase regulates autophagy. Autophagy. 2009, May;5(4):530-3.Abstract

Hou YC, Chittaranjan S, Gonzalez S, McCall K and Gorski SM. Effector caspase Dcp-1 and IAP protein Bruce regulate starvation-induced autophagy during Drosophila melanogaster oogenesis. The Journal of Cell Biology. 2008, Sept. 22;182(6):1127-39.

Qadir M, Kwok B, Dragowska WH, To KH, Le D, Bally MB, and Gorski SM. Macroautophagy inhibition sensitizes tamoxifen-resistant breast cancer cells and enhances mitochondrial depolarization. Breast Cancer Research and Treatment. 2008 Dec;112(3):389-403.Abstract

Klionsky DJ, Abeliovich H, Agostinis P, Agrawal D…..Gorski SM et al… Guidelines for Monitoring Autophagy in Higher Eukaryotes. Autophagy 2008 Feb;4(2): 151-175. (multi-author/institution review)

Copeland JM, Bosdet I, Guo M, Freeman JD, Guo M, Gorski SM* and Hay BA. Echninus, required for interommatidial cell sorting and cell death in the Drosophila pupal retina, encodes a protein with homology to ubiquitin-specific proteases. BMC Developmental Biology. 2007 Jul 5;7(1):82- . *Co-corresponding author

Akdemir F, Farkas R, Chen P, Juhasz G, Medvedova L, Sass M, Wang L, Wang X, Chittaranjan S, Gorski SM, Rodriguez A, Abrams JM. Autophagy occurs upstream of or parallel to the apoptosome during histolytic cell death. Development. 2006 Apr;133(8): 1457-1465.

Recent Book Chapters

Armstrong LJ and Gorski SM. "Breast Cancer and Autophagy" a chapter in Breast Cancer: Causes, Diagnosis and Treatment, Nova Publishers.

Sharon Gorski's Complete Publications List including selected links to full text articles.