Associate Professor Tara Roberts

Associate Dean, Higher Degree Research,
School of Medicine

Associate Professor, Oncology,
School of Medicine

Biography
Contact
Publications
Projects
Supervision

Biography

Education

2001-2004 PhD (Cellular and Molecular Biology) Institute for Molecular Bioscience. The University of Queensland. "Cellular Responses to Immunostimulatory DNA". (Supervisors – Dr Kate Stacey, Professor David Hume, Dr Matthew Sweet). PhD Awarded 2005.

2000 Bachelor of Science (Hons I) (Biochemistry) The Queensland Institute of Medical Research. "Characterisation of Epstein-Barr Virus Encoded BamHI A Rightward Transcripts (BARTs)’. (Supervisors – Dr Norbert Kienzle, Dr Tom Sculley). University of Queensland, Department of Biochemistry.

1997-1999 Bachelor of Science (Biochemistry and Microbiology) University of Queensland.

FUNDING

2015-2018 NHMRC Project Grant ‘To investigate the role of ATM protein in protecting against neurodegeneration’ Prof Martin Lavin, Dr Tara Roberts, Dr Sergei Kozlov, Dr Mark Graham. ($920 798)

2014-2019 Cancer Institute New South Wales Future Research Leader Fellowship ($1 225 257)

2011 QIMR-University Collaborative seed funding grant. ($28 800)

2011-2013 NHMRC Project Grant ‘The mechanism of cell death in response to cytoplasmic DNA, and its role in tumour suppression.’ Dr Katryn Stacey, Dr Tara Roberts ($500 022)

2010-2012 ARC Discovery Grant DP1092486 ‘To investigate the role of the protein kinase SMG-1 in the stress response.’ Professor Martin Lavin, Dr Tara Roberts. ($285 000)

NHMRC Project Grant 631472 ‘Cytoplasmic DNA as a danger signal for mammalian cells.’ Dr Katryn Stacey, Dr Tara Roberts, Dr Matthew Sweet. ($582 360)

2007-2011 NHMRC Peter Doherty Postdoctoral Fellowship – ‘The role of stress granules and PIKKs in the response to cytoplasmic DNA’ ($292 000)

2006-2009 NHMRC Project grant 455920 Dr Katryn Stacey, Dr Tara Roberts, Prof David Hume ‘Cellular Activation and Apoptosis in response to foreign cytoplasmic DNA’ ($477 000)

This information has been contributed by Associate Professor Roberts.

Qualifications

PhD University of Queensland

Professional Memberships

Franklin Women (2016)
TOGA - thoracic oncology group of australasia (2020)
Australian Society for Medical Research (2006)
Australian Sociey of Immunology (2005)

Interests

Cancer
Neurodegenerative Disease
Stress and the Immune System
innate immunity

Organisational Unit (School / Division)

School of Medicine
School of Medicine

Committees

Animal Care and Ethics Committee

Contact

Email:	Tara.Roberts@westernsydney.edu.au
Phone:	(02) 8738 9020
Mobile:
Location:	Off Campus

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Publications

Chapters in Books

Stacey, K., Clark, F., Young, G. and Roberts, T. (2008), 'Discrimination of self and non-self DNAs', Nucleic Acids in Innate Immunity, CRC Press 9781420068252.

Journal Articles

Ho, V., Chung, L., Wilkinson, K., Lea, V., Lim, S., Abubakar, A., Ng, W., Lee, M., Roberts, T., Chua, W. and Lee, C. (2023), 'Prognostic significance of MRE11 overexpression in colorectal cancer patients', Cancers, vol 15, no 9 .
Zhou, X., Kumar, P., Bhuyan, D., Jensen, S., Roberts, T. and Muench, G. (2023), 'Neuroinflammation in Alzheimer's disease : a potential role of nose-picking in pathogen entry via the olfactory system?', Biomolecules, vol 13, no 11 .
Nindra, U., Pal, A., Bray, V., Yip, P., Tognela, A., Roberts, T., Becker, T., Williamson, J., Farzin, M., Li, J., Lea, V., Hagelamin, A., Ng, W., Wang, B., Lee, C. and Chua, W. (2023), '[In Press] Utility of multigene panel next-generation sequencing in routine clinical practice for identifying genomic alterations in newly diagnosed metastatic nonsmall cell lung cancer', Internal Medicine Journal, .
Nindra, U., Pal, A., Lea, V., Lim, S., Wilkinson, K., Asghari, R., Roberts, T., Becker, T., Farzin, M., Rutland, T., Lee, M., MacKenzie, S., Ng, W., Wang, B., Lee, C. and Chua, W. (2023), 'Multigene panel next generation sequencing in metastatic colorectal cancer in an Australian population', PLoS ONE, vol 18, no 10 .
Yoon, R., Wilkinson, K., Gabriel, G., Kadaan, N., Roberts, T., Lim, S., Asghari, R., Lee, C., Chua, W. and Ng, W. (2023), '[In Press] Real-world tolerance and outcomes of oxaliplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy for stage III colon cancer : does dose intensity matter?', Asia-Pacific Journal of Clinical Oncology, .
Tune, B., Sareen, H., Powter, B., Kahana-Edwin, S., Cooper, A., Koh, E., Lee, C., Po, J., McCowage, G., Dexter, M., Cain, L., O?Neill, G., Prior, V., Karpelowsky, J., Tsoli, M., Baumbusch, L., Ziegler, D., Roberts, T., Souza, P., Becker, T. and Ma, Y. (2023), 'From pediatric to adult brain cancer : exploring histone H3 mutations in Australian brain cancer patients', Biomedicines, vol 11, no 11 .
Habashy, P., Lea, V., Wilkinson, K., Wang, B., Wu, X., Roberts, T., Ng, W., Rutland, T., Po, J., Becker, T., Descallar, J., Lee, M., Mackenzie, S., Gupta, R., Cooper, W., Lim, S., Chua, W. and Lee, C. (2023), 'KRAS and BRAF mutation rates and survival outcomes in colorectal cancer in an ethnically diverse patient cohort', International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol 24, no 24 .
Fatima, S., Ma, Y., Safrachi, A., Haider, S., Spring, K., Vafaee, F., Scott, K., Roberts, T., Becker, T. and Souza, P. (2022), 'Harnessing liquid biopsies to guide immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy', Cancers, vol 14, no 7 .
Ho, V., Chung, L., Lim, S., Ma, Y., Wang, B., Lea, V., Abubakar, A., Ng, W., Lee, M., Roberts, T., Chua, W. and Lee, C. (2022), 'Prognostic impact of TP53 mutations and tumor mutational load in colorectal cancer', Gastrointestinal Disorders, vol 4, no 3 , pp 165 - 179.
Quek, H., Cuni-Lopez, C., Stewart, R., Lim, Y., Roberts, T. and White, A. (2022), 'A robust approach to differentiate human monocyte-derived microglia from peripheral blood mononuclear cells', STAR Protocols, vol 3, no 4 .
Radzieta, M., Peters, T., Dickson, H., Cowin, A., Lavery, L., Schwarzer, S., Roberts, T., Jensen, S. and Malone, M. (2022), 'A metatranscriptomic approach to explore longitudinal tissue specimens from non-healing diabetes related foot ulcers', APMIS: Journal of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, vol 130, no 7 , pp 383 - 396.
Sareen, H., Ma, Y., Becker, T., Roberts, T., Souza, P. and Powter, B. (2022), 'Molecular biomarkers in glioblastoma : a systematic review and meta-analysis', International journal of molecular sciences, vol 23, no 16 .
Lai, H., James, A., Luff, J., Souza, P., Quek, H., Ho, U., Lavin, M. and Roberts, T. (2021), 'Regulation of RNA degradation pathways during the lipopolysaccharide response in macrophages', Journal of Leukocyte Biology, vol 109, no 3 , pp 593 - 603.
Adam, T., Becker, T., Chua, W., Bray, V. and Roberts, T. (2021), 'The multiple potential biomarkers for predicting immunotherapy response : finding the needle in the haystack', Cancers, vol 13, no 2 .
Venigalla, M., Roberts, T., Raju, R., Mrad, M., Bodkin, F., Kopp, K., Doyle, K. and Muench, G. (2021), 'Identification of tetragocarbone C and sideroxylin as the most potent anti-inflammatory components of Syncarpia glomulifera', Fitoterapia, vol 150 .
Powter, B., Jeffreys, S., Sareen, H., Cooper, A., Brungs, D., Po, J., Roberts, T., Koh, E., Scott, K., Sajinovic, M., Vessey, J., Souza, P. and Becker, T. (2021), 'Human TERT promoter mutations as a prognostic biomarker in glioma', Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology, vol 147, no 4 , pp 1007 - 1017.
Ding, P., Roberts, T., Chua, W., Becker, T., Caixeiro, N., Souza, P., Gao, B., Lee, C., Itchins, M., Westman, H., Clarke, S., Blinman, P., Kao, S., John, T., Leal, J. and Bray, V. (2021), 'Plasma pre-treatment T790M relative allelic frequency in patients with advanced EGFR-mutated non-small cell lung cancer predicts treatment response to subsequent-line osimertinib', Translational Lung Cancer Research, vol 10, no 4 , pp 1623 - 1634.
Nikesitch, N., Rebeiro, P., Ho, L., Pothula, S., Wang, X., Khong, T., Quek, H., Spencer, A., Lee, C., Roberts, T. and Ling, S. (2021), 'The role of chaperone-mediated autophagy in bortezomib resistant multiple myeloma', Cells, vol 10 .
Singh, A., Ham, J., Po, J., Niles, N., Roberts, T. and Lee, C. (2021), 'The genomic landscape of thyroid cancer tumourigenesis and implications for immunotherapy', Cells, vol 10, no 5 .
Wilkinson, K., Ng, W., Roberts, T., Becker, T., Lim, S., Chua, W. and Lee, C. (2021), 'Tumour immune microenvironment biomarkers predicting cytotoxic chemotherapy efficacy in colorectal cancer', Journal of Clinical Pathology, vol 74, no 10 , pp 625 - 634.
Yang, E., Chua, W., Ng, W. and Roberts, T. (2021), 'Peripheral cytokine levels as a prognostic indicator in gastric cancer : a review of existing literature', Biomedicines, vol 9, no 12 .
Ho, V., Chung, L., Singh, A., Lea, V., Abubakar, A., Lim, S., Chua, W., Ng, W., Lee, M., Roberts, T., Souza, P. and Lee, C. (2020), 'Aberrant expression of RAD52, its prognostic impact in rectal cancer and association with poor survival of patients', International Journal of Molecular Sciences, vol 21, no 5 .
Lynch, D., Powter, B., Po, J., Cooper, A., Garrett, C., Koh, E., Sheridan, M., Van Gelder, J., Darwish, B., Mckechnie, S., Bazina, R., Jaeger, M., Roberts, T., Souza, P. and Becker, T. (2020), 'Isolation of circulating tumor cells from glioblastoma patients by direct immunomagnetic targeting', Applied Sciences, vol 10, no 9 .
Thejer, B., Adhikary, P., Kaur, A., Teakel, S., Oosterum, A., Seth, I., Pajic, M., Hannan, K., Pavy, M., Poh, P., Jazayeri, J., Zaw, T., Pascovici, D., Ludescher, M., Pawlak, M., Cassano, J., Turnbull, L., Jazayeri, M., James, A., Coorey, C., Roberts, T., Kinder, S., Hannan, R., Patrick, E., Molloy, M., New, E., Fehm, T., Neubauer, H., Goldys, E., Weston, L. and Cahill, M. (2020), 'PGRMC1 phosphorylation affects cell shape, motility, glycolysis, mitochondrial form and function, and tumor growth', BMC Molecular and Cell Biology, vol 21, no 1 .
Sareen, H., Garrett, C., Lynch, D., Powter, B., Brungs, D., Cooper, A., Po, J., Koh, E., Vessey, J., Mckechnie, S., Bazina, R., Sheridan, M., Van Gelder, J., Darwish, B., Jaeger, M., Roberts, T., Souza, P. and Becker, T. (2020), 'The role of liquid biopsies in detecting molecular tumor biomarkers in brain cancer patients', Cancers, vol 12, no 7 .
Byrne, H., Le Duc, G., Lux, F., Tillement, O., Holmes, N., James, A., Jelen, U., Dong, B., Liney, G., Roberts, T. and Kuncic, Z. (2020), 'Enhanced MRI-guided radiotherapy with gadolinium-based nanoparticles : preclinical evaluation with an MRI-linac', Cancer Nanotechnology, vol 11, no 1 .
Aghajani, M., Yang, T., Schmitz, U., James, A., McCafferty, C., Souza, P., Niles, N. and Roberts, T. (2020), 'Epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition and its association with PD-L1 and CD8 in thyroid cancer', Endocrine Connections, vol 9, no 10 , pp 1028 - 1041.
Lim, Y., Ensbey, K., Offenhauser, C., D?Souza, R., Cullen, J., Stringer, B., Quek, H., Bruce, Z., Kijas, A., Cianfanelli, V., Mahboubi, B., Smith, F., Jeffree, R., Wiesmueller, L., Wiegmans, A., Bain, A., Lombard, F., Roberts, T., Khanna, K., Lavin, M., Kim, B., Hamerlik, P., Johns, T., Coster, M., Boyd, A. and Day, B. (2020), 'Simultaneous targeting of DNA replication and homologous recombination in glioblastoma with a polyether ionophore', Neuro-Oncology, vol 22, no 2 , pp 216 - 228.
Ding, P., Becker, T., Bray, V., Chua, W., Ma, Y., Lynch, D., Po, J., Luk, A., Caixeiro, N., Souza, P. and Roberts, T. (2019), 'The predictive and prognostic significance of liquid biopsy in advanced epidermal growth factor receptor-mutated non-small cell lung cancer : a prospective study', Lung Cancer, vol 134 , pp 187 - 193.
Aghajani, M., Roberts, T., Yang, T., McCafferty, C., Caixeiro, N., Souza, P. and Niles, N. (2019), 'Elevated levels of soluble PD-L1 are associated with reduced recurrence in papillary thyroid cancer', Endocrine Connections, vol 8, no 7 , pp 1040 - 1051.
Liney, G., Jelen, U., Byrne, H., Dong, B., Roberts, T., Kuncic, Z. and Keall, P. (2019), 'Technical note : the first live treatment on a 1.0 Tesla inline MRI-linac', Medical Physics, vol 46, no 7 , pp 3254 - 3258.
Ding, P., Becker, T., Bray, V., Chua, W., Ma, Y., Xu, B., Lynch, D., Souza, P. and Roberts, T. (2019), 'Plasma next generation sequencing and droplet digital PCR-based detection of epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) mutations in patients with advanced lung cancer treated with subsequent-line osimertinib', Thoracic Cancer, vol 10, no 10 , pp 1879 - 1884.
Ho, U., Luff, J., James, A., Lee, C., Quek, H., Lai, H., Apte, S., Lim, Y., Lavin, M. and Roberts, T. (2019), 'SMG1 heterozygosity exacerbates haematopoietic cancer development in Atm null mice by increasing persistent DNA damage and oxidative stress', Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, vol 23, no 12 , pp 8151 - 8160.
Aghajani, M., Cooper, A., McGuire, H., Jeffries, T., Saab, J., Ismail, K., Souza, P., Bray, V., De Saint Groth, F., Niles, N. and Roberts, T. (2019), 'Pembrolizumab for anaplastic thyroid cancer : a case study', Cancer Immunology, Immunotherapy, vol 68 , pp 1921 - 1934.
Quek, H., Lim, Y., Lavin, M. and Roberts, T. (2018), 'PIKKing a way to regulate inflammation', Immunology and Cell Biology, vol 96, no 1 , pp 8 - 20.
Nikesitch, N., Lee, J., Ling, S. and Roberts, T. (2018), 'Endoplasmic reticulum stress in the development of multiple myeloma and drug resistance', Clinical & Translational Immunology, vol 7, no 1 .
Lim, Y., Quek, H., Offenhauser, C., Fazry, S., Boyd, A., Lavin, M., Roberts, T. and Day, B. (2018), 'ATM inhibition prevents interleukin-6 from contributing to the proliferation of glioblastoma cells after ionizing radiation', Journal of Neuro-Oncology, vol 138, no 3 , pp 509 - 518.
Aghajani, M., Graham, S., McCafferty, C., Abdel Shaheed, C., Roberts, T., Souza, P., Yang, T. and Niles, N. (2018), 'Clinicopathologic and prognostic significance of programmed cell death ligand 1 expression in patients with non-medullary thyroid cancer : a systematic review and meta-analysis', Thyroid, vol 28, no 3 , pp 349 - 361.
Razdan, A., Souza, P. and Roberts, T. (2018), 'Role of microRNAs in treatment response in prostate cancer', Current Cancer Drug Targets, vol 18, no 10 , pp 929 - 944.
Ding, P., Ma, Y., Roberts, T., Chua, W., Bray, V., Lynch, D., Burke, D., Souza, P. and Becker, T. (2018), 'Droplet digital PCR based detection of EGFR mutations in advanced lung cancer patient liquid biopsies : a comparison of circulating tumour DNA extraction kits', Journal of Molecular Biomarkers and Diagnosis, vol 9, no 4 .
Quek, H., Luff, J., Cheung, K., Kozlov, S., Gatei, M., Lee, S., Bellingham, M., Noakes, P., Lim, Y., Barnett, N., Dingwall, S., Wolvetang, E., Moshimo, T., Roberts, T. and Lavin, M. (2017), 'A rat model of ataxia-telangiectasia : evidence for a neurodegenerative phenotype', Human Molecular Genetics, vol 26, no 1 , pp 109 - 123.
Quek, H., Luff, J., Cheung, K., Kozlov, S., Gatei, M., Lee, S., Bellingham, M., Noakes, P., Lim, Y., Barnett, N., Dingwall, S., Wolvetang, E., Mashimo, T., Roberts, T. and Lavin, M. (2017), 'Rats with a missense mutation in Atm display neuroinflammation and neurodegeneration subsequent to accumulation of cytosolic DNA following unrepaired DNA damage', Journal of Leukocyte Biology, vol 101, no 4 , pp 927 - 947.
Ding, P., Roberts, T., Chua, W., Becker, T., Descallar, J., Yip, P. and Bray, V. (2017), 'Clinical outcomes in patients with advanced epidermal growth factor receptor-mutated non-small-cell lung cancer in South Western Sydney Local Health District', Internal Medicine Journal, vol 47, no 12 , pp 1405 - 1411.
Ng, T., Shin, J., Roberts, T., Wang, B. and Lee, S. (2016), 'Molecular interactions of polo-like kinase 1 in human cancers', Journal of Clinical Pathology, vol 69, no 7 , pp 557 - 562.
Nikesitch, N., Tao, C., Lai, K., Killingsworth, M., Bae, S., Wang, M., Harrison, S., Roberts, T. and Ling, S. (2016), 'Predicting the response of multiple myeloma to the proteasome inhibitor Bortezomib by evaluation of the unfolded protein response', Blood Cancer Journal, vol 6 .
Lim, Y., Roberts, T., Day, B., Stringer, B., Kozlov, S., Fazry, S., Bruce, Z., Ensbey, K., Walker, D., Boyd, A. and Lavin, M. (2014), 'Increased sensitivity to ionizing radiation by targeting the homologous recombination pathway in glioma initiating cells', Molecular Oncology, vol 8, no 8 , pp 1603 - 1615.
Roberts, T., Ho, U., Luff, J., Lee, S., Apte, S., MacDonald, K., Raggat, L., Pettit, A., Morrow, C., Waters, M., Chen, P., Woods, R., Thomas, G., Pierre, L., Farah, C., Clarke, R., Brown, J. and Lavin, M. (2013), 'Smg1 haploinsufficiency predisposes to tumor formation and inflammation', Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, vol 110, no 4 , pp 285 - 294.
Sagulenko, V., Thygesen, S., Sester, D., Idris, A., Cridland, J., Vajjhala, P., Roberts, T., Schroder, K., Vince, J., Hill, J., Silke, J. and Stacey, K. (2013), 'AIM2 and NLRP3 inflammasomes activate both apoptotic and pyroptotic death pathways via ASC', Cell Death and Differentiation, vol 20, no 9 , pp 1149 - 1160.
Cridland, J., Curley, E., Wykes, M., Schroder, K., Sweet, M., Roberts, T., Ragan, M., Kassahn, K. and Stacey, K. (2012), 'The mammalian PYHIN gene family : phylogeny, evolution and expression', BMC Evolutionary Biology, vol 12, no 140 .
Lim, Y., Roberts, T., Day, B., Harding, A., Kozlov, S., Kijas, A., Ensbey, K., Walker, D. and Lavin, M. (2012), 'A role for homologous recombination and abnormal cell-cycle progression in radioresistance of glioma-initiating cells', Molecular Cancer Therapeutics, vol 11, no 9 , pp 1863 - 1872.
Roberts, T., Turner, M., Dunn, J., Lenert, P., Ross, I., Sweet, M. and Stacey, K. (2011), 'B cells do not take up bacterial DNA : an essential role for antigen in exposure of DNA to toll-like receptor-9', Immunology and Cell Biology, vol 89, no 4 , pp 517 - 525.
Roberts, T., Dunn, J., Sweet, M., Hume, D. and Stacey, K. (2011), 'The immunostimulatory activity of phosphorothioate CpG oligonucleotides is affected by distal sequence changes', Molecular Immunology, vol 48, no 8 , pp 1027 - 1034.
Brown, J., Roberts, T., Richards, R., Woods, R., Birrell, G., Lim, Y., Ohno, S., Yamashita, A., Abraham, R., Gueven, N. and Lavin, M. (2011), 'A novel role for hSMG-1 in stress granule formation', Molecular and Cellular Biology, vol 31, no 22 , pp 4417 - 4429.
Roberts, T., Idris, A., Dunn, J., Kelly, G., Burnton, C., Hodgson, S., Hardy, L., Garceau, V., Sweet, M., Ross, I., Hume, D. and Stacey, K. (2009), 'HIN-200 proteins regulate caspase activation in response to foreign cytoplasmic DNA', Science, vol 323, no 5917 , pp 1057 - 1060.
Trieu, A., Bokil, N., Dunn, J., Roberts, T., Xu, D., Liew, F., Hume, D., Stacey, K. and Sweet, M. (2009), 'TLR9-independent effects of inhibitory oligonucleotides on macrophage responses to S. typhimurium', Immunology and Cell Biology, vol 87, no 3 , pp 218 - 225.
Sester, D., Brion, K., Trieu, A., Goodridge, H., Roberts, T., Dunn, J., Hume, D., Stacey, K. and Sweet, M. (2006), 'CpG DNA activates survival in murine macrophages through TLR9 and the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-Akt pathway', The Journal of Immunology, vol 177, no 7 , pp 4473 - 4480.
Brummel, R., Roberts, T., Stacey, K. and Lenert, P. (2006), 'Higher-order CpG-DNA stimulation reveals distinct activation requirements for marginal zone and follicular B cells in lupus mice', European Journal of Immunology, vol 36, no 7 , pp 1951 - 1962.
Trieu, A., Roberts, T., Dunn, J., Sweet, M. and Stacey, K. (2006), 'DNA motifs suppressing TLR9 responses', Critical Reviews in Immunology, vol 26, no 6 , pp 527 - 544.
Roberts, T., Dunn, J., Terry, T., Jennings, M., Hume, D., Sweet, M. and Stacey, K. (2005), 'Differences in macrophage activation by bacterial DNA and CpG-containing oligonucleotides', The Journal of Immunology, vol 175, no 6 , pp 3569 - 3576.
Roberts, T., Sweet, M., Hume, D. and Stacey, K. (2005), 'Cutting edge : species-specific TLR9-mediated recognition of CpG and non-CpG phosphorothioate-modified oligonucleotides', Journal of Immunology, vol 174, no 2 , pp 605 - 608.
Stacey, K., Young, G., Clark, F., Sester, D., Roberts, T., Naik, S., Sweet, M. and Hume, D. (2003), 'The molecular basis for the lack of immunostimulatory activity of vertebrate DNA', Journal of Immunology, vol 170, no 7 , pp 3614 - 3620.

Conference Papers

Byrne, H., Le Duc, G., Lux, F., Tillement, O., Liney, G., Roberts, T. and Kuncic, Z. (2018), 'First investigation of gadolinium-based nanoparticles for radiosensitization and enhanced imaging on the Australian MRI-linac', IEEE Nuclear Science Symposium and Medical Imaging Conference, Sydney, N.S.W..
Ng, W., Shin, J., Yang, T., Roberts, T., Wang, B., Begg, J. and Lee, S. (2016), 'Inhibition of polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1) additively improves the outcome of ionising irradiation (IR) in colorectal cancer (CRC)', Australasian Division of the International Academy of Pathology. Annual Scientific Meeting, Brisbane, Qld..

Dr Tara Roberts completed her PhD in 2005 at The Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland focussing on the biology of toll-like receptor 9 (TLR9) mediated responses to CpG DNA. During her my first postdoctoral appointment she continued working on TLR9 responses and also identified the HIN-200 protein, AIM2 as a receptor and p202 as an antagonist of inflammasome activation in response to cytosolic double-stranded DNA. She was awarded an NHMRC Peter Doherty Fellowship in 2007 and moved to The Queensland Institute of Medical Research. Here she commenced work examining the role that inflammation plays in disease development and progression. Part of this work focuses on the role that the protein SMG1 plays in regulating inflammation, stress responses and carcinogenesis. The second part involved examination of the role of inflammation in the development of the neurodegenerative disease Ataxia-Telangiectasia. In 2014 she accepted a Cancer Institute New South Wales Future Research Leader Fellowship to move to The Ingham Institute and University of Western Sydney. This role involved the establishment of her research group "Cancer and Inflammation". This group utilises molecular and cellular biology techniques and analysis of animal models and patient samples to understand how certain mutations change the biology of cancer cells with the aim of exploiting these differences to improve patient treatment. The group has major interests in lung, brain and colorectal cancer, DNA damage responses including induction of inflammation by DNA damage, immunotherapy and liquid biopsy.