Professor Peter Leedman

Professor Peter Leedman completed medicine at the University of Western Australia (UWA), then trained in endocrinology at Royal Melbourne Hospital in the mid-1980s. He completed his PhD at the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute in Melbourne with Len Harrison on autoimmune thyroid disease from 1987-1991. From 1991-1994 he was a Lucille P Markey Fellow with Bill Chin, a Howard Hughes Investigator in the Division of Genetics, Brigham and Women's hospital, Harvard Medical School in Boston where he worked on the molecular mechanisms of thyroid hormone action.

He returned to Perth in 1994 as a Senior Lecturer in Medicine at UWA and became a Professor in 2003.

His research studies are focussed on the mechanisms of hormone action, in particular interactions between RNA and protein that govern expression of key genes involved in the proliferation of hormone-dependent cancer (breast and prostate). His laboratory is focused on applying advances in understanding these molecular mechanisms to the development of novel therapeutics. The team's discovery of several novel transcriptional nuclear receptor coregulators, including SLIRP, has generated much interest in the role of RNA-binding coregulators in hormone action.

Professor Leedman is Head of the Laboratory for Cancer Medicine and Deputy Director of WAIMR. He is also an endocrinologist and Director of Research at Royal Perth Hospital.

Qualifications

1981	MBBS - University of Western Australia, Australia
1988	FRACP - Fellow of the Royal Australian College of Physicians
1991	PhD - Medicine, University of Melbourne, Australia Thesis Title: "Structural characterization of the thyrotropin receptor and molecular cloning of a novel thyroid truncated actin-binding protein"

Research Interests

• Molecular mechanisms controlling the regulation of gene expression in hormone-dependent cancer.
• Functional biology of nuclear receptor coregulators in hormone action, including mechanisms of oestrogen/steroid/androgen hormone action in breast and prostate cancer cells, as well as nuclear receptor signaling in adipose and muscle cells.
• microRNAs (miRNAs) and the biology of cancer.
• RNA biology, nuclear and cytoplasmic RNA-protein interactions.
• Laboratory diagnosis, investigation and treatment of thyroid disease.

Scientific Involvement

• "Journal of Molecular Endocrinology" - Member of Editorial Board 2003 onwards.
• "Endocrine Reviews" - Member of Editorial Board 2005 to 2008.
• Kolling Institute of Medical Research - Member of Scientific Advisory Committee 2003 onwards.
• Viertel Trust Medical and Scientific Advisory Panel - Member 2003 onwards.
• Pfizer Senior Fellowship Awards Panel - Member 2005 onwards.
• US Endocrine Society - Membership Committee - Member 2006 to 2008.
• State Health Research Advisory Committee (SHRAC) - Member 2005 onwards.
• NHMRC Research Committee - Member 2001 to 2003.
• NHMRC Grant Review Panel - Chair Endocrinology 2007.

Top 10 Publications

1. Hatchell EM, Colley S, Beveridge DJ, Epis MR, Stuart LM, Giles KM, Redfern AD, Miles LEC, Barker A, MacDonald L, Arthur PG, Lui JCK, Golding J, McCulloch RK, Metcalf C, Wilce JA, Wilce MCJ, Lanz RB, O'Malley BW, Leedman PJ. 2006. SLIRP, a small SRA-binding protein, is a nuclear receptor co-repressor. Molecular Cell 22:657-68. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
2. Thomson AM, Cahill CM, Kassachau KD, Toth I, Epis M, Leiter L, Bridges K, Leedman PJ*, Rogers JT*. 2005. The acute box cis-element in human H-ferritin mRNA 5'-untranslated region is a unique translation enhancer that binds poly(C)-binding proteins. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 280:30032-45. (*Denotes Co-senior authors) [NCBI PubMed Entry]
3. Adams DJ, Beveridge DJ, van der Weyden L, Mangs H, Leedman PJ*, Morris BJ*. 2003. HADHB, HuR and CP1bind to the distal 3'-UTR of human renin mRNA and differentially modulate renin expression. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 278:44894-903. (*Denotes Co-senior authors) [NCBI PubMed Entry]
4. Giles KM, Daly JM, Beveridge DJ, Thomson AM, Voon D, Furneaux HM, Jazayeri JA, Leedman PJ. 2003. The 3'-Untranslated Region of p21WAF1 mRNA is a complex cis-acting element bound by multiple RNA-binding proteins from breast cancer cells, including HuR and poly(C)-binding protein (CP1). The Journal of Biological Chemistry 278:2937-46. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
5. Yeap BB, Voon D, Vivian J, McCulloch, Thomson AM, Furneaux H, Wilce MJ, Wilce JA, Leedman PJ. 2002. Novel binding of HuR and poly(C)-binding protein to a conserved UC-rich motif within the 3'-untranslated region of the androgen receptor messenger RNA. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 277:27183-92. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
6. Balmer L, Beveridge DJ, Jazayeri J, Thomson AM, Walker CE, Leedman PJ. 2001. Identification of a novel AU-Rich element in the 3' untranslated region of epidermal growth factor receptor mRNA that is the target for regulated RNA-binding proteins. Molecular and Cellular Biology 21:2070-84. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
7. Thomson AM, Rogers JT, Leedman PJ. 2000. Thyrotropin-releasing hormone and epidermal growth factor regulate iron regulatory protein binding in pituitary cells via protein kinase C-dependent and -independent signalling pathways. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 275:31609-15. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
8. Leedman PJ, Rogers JR, Stein AR, Chin WW. 1996. Thyroid hormone modulates the interaction between iron regulatory proteins and the ferritin mRNA iron-responsive element. The Journal of Biological Chemistry 271:12017-23. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
9. Leedman PJ, Faulkner-Jones B, Cram D, Harrison P, West J, Simpson R, Coppel R, Harrison LC. 1993. Cloning from the thyroid of a protein related to actin-binding protein that is recognized by Graves' disease immunoglobulins. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 90:5994-8. [NCBI PubMed Entry]
10. Kielczynski W, Harrison LC, Leedman PJ. 1991. Direct evidence that ganglioside is an integral component of the thyrotropin receptor. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 88:1991-5. [NCBI PubMed Entry]