KATHERINE L.B. BORDEN, Ph.D.

Principal Investigator, Structure and Function of the Cell Nucleus Laboratory, Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer
Full Professor, Department of Pathology and Cell Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Université de Montréal

AWARDS & HONOURS

Stohlman Scholar, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, 2005
Canada Research Chair in the Molecular Biology of the Cell Nucleus, 2004–
Scholar, The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, 2000-2005
Research Fellow, Imperial Cancer Research Fund, 1994-1996
Postdoctoral Fellow, Medical Research Council, 1990-1994
Predoctoral Fellow, National Institutes of Health, 1986-1990

TRAINING

Postdoctoral training, Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London, U.K.,
1994-1996
Postdoctoral training, National Institute for Medical Research, London, U.K.,
1990-1994
Ph.D. in molecular biophysics and biochemistry with Fred Richards, Yale University, Connecticut, 1990
B.Sc. in cellular and molecular biology, University of Michigan, Michigan, 1986

RESEARCH SUPPORT

National Institutes of Health
Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (USA)

Katherine Borden joined the ranks of the Institute for Research in Immunology and Cancer (IRIC) as a principal investigator in 2004. She is a Professor with the Université de Montréal's Faculty of Medicine's Department of Pathology and Cell Biology. She holds the Canada Research Chair in the Molecular Biology of the Cell Nucleus.

Dr. Borden's interest in using biophysical and structural biology to study biological problems started when she was a graduate student at Yale University, working under the guidance of Dr. Fred Richards. She continued combining NMR and cancer biology in the U.K. over the course of two postdoctoral fellowships, with Dr. Andrew Lane and Dr. Paul Freemont respectively.

Dr. Borden and her team focus on understanding the molecular basis of cancer. They are interested in how the dysregulation of different aspects of RNA metabolism contributes to cells becoming cancerous. They have a particular interest in leukemia and use molecular biology, structural biology and biophysics in their research. Their work has led to the development of a novel therapy. More specifically, they have discovered that inhibition of a specific factor, eIF4E, by a well known anti-viral drug, Ribavirin impedes eIF4E's ability to make cells cancerous without significantly affecting normal cells.

Dr. Borden is currently leading a Canada-wide clinical trial supported by the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (USA), to monitor the efficacy of ribavirin treatment in M4/M5 acute myeloid leukemia patients.

Dr. Borden's initial studies on eIF4E began in Halifax, at Dalhousie University, where she had her first faculty appointment. She has pursued and developed these interests throughout her career at both Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan (NY) and now, at IRIC in Montreal.

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

Assouline, S, Culjkovic, B., Cocolakis, E., Rousseau, C., Beslue, N., Amri, A., Caplan, S. Leber, B., Roy, D-C., Miller, W.H. Borden, KLB. Molecular targeting of the oncogene eIF4E in AML: a proof-of-principle clinical trial with ribavirin. Blood, 2009 Jul 9;114(2):257-60.

Topisirovic, I., Siddiqui, N, Orolicki, S., Skrabanek, L., Tremblay, M., Hoang, T., and Borden, K.L.B. The stability of eIF4E mRNA is regulated by HuR and this activity is dysregulated in cancer. (2009) Mol Cell Biol, 29(5):1152-62

Topisirovic, I., Siddiqui, N., Borden, K.L.B. Functional consequences of the intersection of the HuR and eIF4E RNA regulons. Cell Cycle, 1;8(7):960-1.

Topisirovic, I., Siddiqui, N., Leroux Lapointe, V. Trost, M., Thibault, P., Bangeranye, C., Piñol-Roma, S, Borden, KLB. Molecular dissection of the eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (eIF4E) export competent RNP. EMBO J. 28(8):1087-98 (Faculty of 1000 Hidden Jewel)

Culjkovic, B and Borden, KLB. (2009) Perspectives in PML: a unifying framework for PML function. Front. Biosci. 1;14:497-509.

Ebralidze AK, Guibal FC, Steidl U, Zhang P, Lee S, Bartholdy B, Jorda MA, Petkova V, Rosenbauer F, Huang G, Dayaram T, Klupp J, O'Brien KB, Will B, Hoogenkamp M, Borden KL, Bonifer C, Tenen DG. (2008) PU.1 expression is modulated by the balance of functional sense and antisense RNAs regulated by a shared cis-regulatory element. Genes Dev. 2008 Aug 1;22(15):2085-92.

Borden KLB. (2008) Pondering the puzzle of PML (promyelocytic leukemia) nuclear bodies: Can we fit the pieces together using an RNA regulon? (2008) Biochim Biophys Acta. 1783(11):2145-54.

Tan, K., Culjkovic, B., Amri, A., Borden, K. L. B. (2008) Ribavirin targets eIF4E dependent Akt survival signaling. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, Volume 375, Issue 3, 24 October 2008, Pages 341-345

Culjkovic, B, Tan, K., Orolicki, S., Amri, A., Meloche, S., Borden, K.L.B. (2008) The eIF4E RNA regulon promotes the Akt signaling pathway. J Cell Biology. 181:51-64

Volpon, L., Osborne, M.J., Borden, K.L.B. NMR assignment of the arenaviral Z protein from Lassa fever virus (2008), in press Journal of Biomolecular NMR Assignment. 2(1):81-84.

Poyurovsky MV, Priest C, Kentsis A, Borden KL, Pan ZQ, Pavletich N, Prives C.(2007) The Mdm2 RING domain C-terminus is required for supramolecular assembly and ubiquitin ligase activity. EMBO J. Jan 10;26(1):90-101.

Culjkovic, B., Topisirovic, I and Borden, K.L.B. Controlling Gene Expression through RNA Regulons: The Role of the Eukaryotic Translation Initiation Factor eIF4E. (2007) Cell Cycle Volume: 6 | Issue: 1 | Pages: 65 – 69

Peng H, Gibson LC, Capili AD, Borden KL, Osborne MJ, Harper SL, Speicher DW, Zhao K, Marmorstein R, Rock TA, Rauscher FJ 3rd. (2007) The structurally disordered KRAB repression domain is incorporated into a protease resistant core upon binding to KAP-1-RBCC domain. J Mol Biol. 2007 Jul 6;370(2):269-89.

Volpon L, Osborne MJ, Topisirovic I, Siddiqui N, Borden KL (2006) Cap-free structure of eIF4E suggests a basis for conformational regulation by its ligands. EMBO J 25:5138-5149

Culjkovic B, Topisirovic I, Skrabanek L, Ruiz-Gutierrez M, Borden KL (2006) eIF4E is a central node of an RNA regulon that governs cellular proliferation. J Cell Biol 175:415-426