| BSc (Hons) UC Swansea, PhD London
Head of Program, Leukaemia Biology Program
Contact: Associate Professor Richard Lock
Tel:+61 2 9382 1829
Email: rlock 'at' ccia.unsw.edu.au
Associate Professor Lock was recruited as Head of CCIA's Leukaemia Biology Program in 1998 from the position of Associate Professor, Department of Medicine and Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Prior to his move, he had attained an international reputation in the cancer-related fields of cell cycle control, drug resistance, and mechanisms of programmed cell death (apoptosis).
Since arriving at CCIA, A/Professor Lock has successfully developed a clinically relevant laboratory model for the in vivo growth of human Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia (ALL) cells - the first such model in Australia. The model now plays a central role in the preclinical evaluation of anticancer agents and the identification of new targets for targeted therapies.
A/Professor Lock's contribution to cancer research has been reflected in his authorship of 52 peer-reviewed papers, including several in prestigious journals such as Blood, Cancer Research, Clinical Cancer Research, The Journal of Biological Chemistry, Molecular and Cellular Biology, and Oncogene. He has also been awarded research grants by the National Cancer Institute (USA), The American Cancer Society (USA),The Cancer Council NSW (Australia), and the National Health and Medical Research Council (Australia).
Key publications
1. Lock, RB, Liem, N, Farnsworth, ML, Milross, CG, Xue, C, Tajbakhsh, M, Haber, M, Norris, MD, Marshall, GM, and Rice, AM (2002). The non-obese diabetic/severe combined immunodeficient (NOD/SCID) mouse model of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia reveals intrinsic differences in biological characteristics at diagnosis and relapse. Blood, 99: 4100-4108
2. Liem, NLM, Papa, RA, Milross, CG, Schmid, MA, Tajbakhsh, M, Choi, S, Ramirez, CD, Rice, AM, Haber, M, Norris, MD, MacKenzie, KL, and Lock, RB (2004). Characterization of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia xenograft models for the preclinical evaluation of new therapies. Blood, 103: 3905-3914
3. Bachmann, PS, Gorman, R, MacKenzie, KL, Lutze-Mann, L, and Lock, RB (2005). Dexamethasone resistance in B-cell precursor childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia occurs downstream of ligand-induced nuclear translocation of the glucocorticoid receptor. Blood, 105: 2519-252
4. Bachmann, PS, Gorman, R, Papa, R, Bardell, J, Ford, J, Kees, U, Marshall, GM, and Lock, RB (2007). Divergent mechanisms of glucocorticoid resistance in experimental models of pediatric acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Cancer Research, 67(9): 4482-4490.
5. Kang, MH, Kang, YH, Szymanska, B, Wilczynska-Kalak, U, Sheard, MA, Harned, T, Lock, RB, and Reynolds, CP (2007). Activity of vincristine, L-ASP, and dexamethasone against acute lymphoblastic leukemia is enhanced by the BH3-mimetic ABT-737 in vitro and in vivo. Blood, 110(6): 2057-2066. |
