Description of Research

Lauren Endres received her Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, where her research focused on understanding the role that tumor suppressors play in processes that determine cancer cell fates. Dr. Endres continued research in cancer biology as a post-doc, first at Harvard Medical School and then at the State University of New York’s Polytechnic Institute (SUNY Poly), where she later accepted a faculty position. Dr. Endres's research aims to understand translational mechanisms that protect against oxidative stress with implications for cancer prevention and stemming its progression from a benign to a malignant state. Specifically, she investigates tRNA methyltransferases that are reactive oxygen species responsive and show deregulated expression in cancer. Ultimately, Dr. Endres aims to understand the interrelationships between these fascinating enzymes, their catalytic modifications, and known oncogenic and tumor-suppressive signaling pathways.

Education

• NIEHS Fellow, College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering, SUNY Poly (2009)
• Post Doctoral Fellow, Cutaneous Biology Research Center, Harvard Medical School (2005)
• Ph.D.  in Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto (2005)
• M.Sc. in Medical Genetics, University of Toronto (1999)
• B.Sc. in Biology and Biotechnology, York University (1996)

Areas of Research

• Translational responses to oxidative stress
• Oxidative stress in malignant cancer cell progression
• Gene-environment interactions that initiate cancer
• Interrelationships between translation mechanisms and cancer cell signaling
• New cancer therapeutics and prevention strategies

Honors and Awards

• National Research Service Award (NRSA), National Institutes of Environmental Health Sciences, NIH
• Post Doctoral Fellowship Award, Massachusetts General Hospital Fund for Medical Discovery
• Elected Graduate Student Union Representative, Department of Medical Biophysics, University of Toronto
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Graduate Scholarship
• Ontario Graduate Scholarship
• Hospital for Sick Children’s Research and Training Competition Award
• York University Continuing Student Scholarship
• Affiliate member of the RNA Institute – www.rna.albany.edu

Research Description

The broad goal of my research program is to understand translational defense mechanisms that protect against oxidative-stress, with implications for the prevention of cancer and its progression from a benign to a malignant state. Specifically, I am investigating tRNA methyltransferases that are reactive oxygen species responsive and that show deregulated expression in a number of cancers, including colon, bladder, breast and ovarian. I aim understand the interrelationships between these fascinating enzymes, the modifications they catalyze, and known oncogenic and tumor suppressor signaling pathways.

Selected Publications

1. Leonardi, A., Kovalchuk, N., Yin, L., Endres, L., Evke, S., Nevins, S., Martin, S., Dedon, P.C., Melendez, J.A., Van Winkle, L., Zhang Q-Y., Ding X., Begley T.J., (2020). The epitranscriptomic writer ALKBH8 drives tolerance and protects mouse lungs from the environmental pollutant naphthalene. Epigenetics, 15(10), pp.1121-1138.
2. Endres L., Rose R.E., Doyle F., Rahn T., Lee B., Seaman J., McIntyre W.D., Fabris D., (2020).  2'-O-ribose methylation of transfer RNA promotes recovery from oxidative stress in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. PLoS One. Feb 13;15(2).
3. Endres L., Fasullo M., Rose R., (2019).  tRNA modification and cancer: potential for therapeutic prevention and intervention. Future Med Chem. Apr;11(8):885-900.
4. Worley B.L., Kim Y.S., Mardini J., Zaman R., Leon K.E., Vallur P.G., Nduwumwami A., Warrick J.I., Timmins P.F., Kesterson J.P., Phaëton R., Lee N.Y., Walter V., Endres L., Mythreye K., Aird K.M., Hempel N,. (2018)  GPx3 supports ovarian cancer progression by manipulating the extracellular redox environment. Redox Biol. Nov 17. pii: S2213-2317(18)30891-7.
5. Fasullo M., Endres L., (2015).  Nucleotide salvage deficiencies, DNA damage and neurodegeneration. Int J Mol Sci. Apr 27;16(5):9431-49.
6. Endres L., Begley U., Clark R., Gu C., Dziergowska A., Małkiewicz A., Melendez J.A., Dedon P.C., Begley TJ., (2015).  Alkbh8 Regulates Selenocysteine-Protein Expression to Protect against Reactive Oxygen Species Damage. PLoS One. Jul 6;10(7).
7. Endres L., Dedon P.C., Begley T.J., (2015) Codon-biased translation can be regulated by wobble-base tRNA modification systems during cellular stress responses. RNA Biol. 12(6).
8. Begley U., Sosa M.S., Avivar-Valderas A., Patil A., Endres L., Estrada Y., Chan C.T., Su D., Dedon P.C., Aguirre-Ghiso J.A., Begley T.J., (2013). A human tRNA methyltransferase 9-like protein prevents tumour growth by regulating LIN9 and HIF1-α. EMBO Molecular Medecine. 5(3).
9. Brown-Endres L., Schoenfeld D., Tian F., Kim H.G., Namba T., Muñoz-Fontela C., Mandinova A., Aaronson S.A., Lee S.W., (2012). Expression of the p53 target CDIP correlates with sensitivity to TNFα-induced apoptosis in cancer cells. Cancer Res.72(9).
10. Assaily W., Rubinger D.A., Wheaton K., Lin Y., Ma W., Xuan W., Brown-Endres L., Tsuchihara K., Mak T.W., Benchimol S., (2011). ROS-mediated p53 induction of Lpin1 regulates fatty acid oxidation in response to nutritional stress. Mol Cell. 44(3).
11. Brown L., Ongusaha PP., Kim HG., Nuti S., Mandinova A., Lee JW., Khosravi-Far R., Aaronson SA., Lee SW., (2007). CDIP, a novel pro-apoptotic gene, regulates TNF alpha-mediated apoptosis in a p53-dependent manner. EMBO J. 26(14).
12. Tsuchihara K., Lapin V., Bakal C., Okada H., Brown L., Hirota-Tsuchihara M., Zaugg K., Ho A., Itie-Youten A., Harris-Brandts M., Rottapel R., Richardson CD., Benchimol S., Mak TW., (2005). Ckap2 regulates aneuploidy, cell cycling, and cell death in a p53-dependent manner. Cancer Res. 65(15).

Full list of published work:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/collections/bibliography/48341629/