Associate Professor Tom Ratajczak

Tom Ratajczak obtained his PhD in Organic Chemistry under the supervision of Professor Phil Jefferies, from the University of Western Australia in 1972. In the same year, as Saw Medical Research Fellow, he joined Professor Roland Hahnel in the Department of Obstetrics & Gynaecology, University of Western Australia.

From 1989-1990 he worked with Professor Gordon Ringold, Institute of Cancer & Developmental Biology, Syntex Research, Palo Alto, California, USA.

On his return to Perth in 1991, he joined the Department of Surgery, University of Western Australia, as Senior Research Officer (NHMRC) and was appointed Senior Medical Scientist, Department of Endocrinology & Diabetes, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in 1992. He took up the position of Senior Medical Scientist in Charge - Biochemist, in 2002.

His long-standing research interest is the mechanisms by which steroid hormones trigger physiological responses in target cells, with a particular focus on the regulation of steroid receptor function by Hsp90 chaperone machine. More recently he has expanded his research interests to the genetics and signalling pathways associated with the calcium-sensing receptor and to the role of sequestosome 1/p62 in Paget's disease of bone.

Qualifications

1968	BSc (Hons) - Double Chemistry Major (Physical & Inorganic Chemistry, Organic Chemistry), University of Western Australia, Australia
1972	PhD - Organic Chemistry, University of Western Australia, Australia Thesis Title: "The chemistry of a novel pimaradienediol and metabolism of some ent-kaurenes"

Research Interests

• Mechanism of steroid hormone action
• Disorders of calcium metabolism

Top 10 Publications

1. Masarei JRL, Armstrong BK, Skinner MW, Ratajczak T, Hahnel R, Crooke D, Clarke HT. 1980. HDL-Cholesterol and sex hormone status. The Lancet 1:208.
2. Armstrong BK, Brown JB, Clarke HT, Crooke DK, Hahnel R, Masarei JRL, Ratajczak T. 1981. Diet and reproductive hormones:a study of vegetarian and non-vegetarian post-menopausal women. J Natl Cancer Inst 67:761-7.
3. Riggs DL, Roberts PJ, Chirillo SC, Cheung-Flynn J, Prapapanich V, Ratajczak T, Gaber R, Picard D, Smith DF. 2003. The Hsp90-binding peptidylprolyl isomerase FKBP52 potentiates glucocorticoid signaling in vivo. EMBO J 22:1158-67.
4. Williams PM, Ratajczak T, Lee SC, Ringold GM. 1991. AGP/EBP (LAP) expressed in rat hepatoma cells interacts with multiple promoter sites and is necessary for maximal glucocorticoid induction of the rat a1-acid glycoprotein gene. Mol Cell Biol 11:4959-65.
5. Ward BK, Allan RK, Mok D, Temple SE, Taylor P, Dornan J, Mark PJ, Shaw DJ, Kumar P, Walkinshaw MD, Ratajczak T. 2002. A structure-based mutational analysis of cyclophilin 40 identifies key residues in the core tetratricopeptide repeat domain that mediate binding to hsp90. J Biol Chem 277:40799-809.
6. Carrello A, Ingley E, Minchin RF, Tsai S, Ratajczak T. 1999. The common tetratricopeptide repeat acceptor site for steroid receptor-associated immunophilins and Hop is located in the dimerization domain of hsp90. J Biol Chem 274:2682-9.
7. Ratajczak T, Carrello A. 1996. Cyclophilin 40 (CyP40): mapping of its hsp90 binding domain and evidence that FKBP52 competes with CyP40 for hsp90 binding. J Biol Chem 271:2961-5.
8. Ratajczak T, Carrello A, Mark PJ, Warner BJ, Simpson RJ, Moritz RL, House AK. 1993. The cyclophilin component of the unactivated estrogen receptor contains a tetratricopeptide repeat domain and shares identity with p59(FKBP59). J Biol Chem 268:13187-92.
9. Ratajczak T, Williams PM, DiLorenzo D, Ringold GM. 1992. Multiple elements within the glucocorticoid regulatory unit of the rat alpha-1-acid glycoprotein gene are recognition sites for C/EBP. J Biol Chem 267:11111-9.
10. Ratajczak T, Wilkinson SP, Brockway MJ, Hahnel R, Moritz RL, Begg GS, Simpson RJ. 1989. The interaction site for tamoxifen aziridine with the bovine estrogen receptor. J Biol Chem 264:13453-9.