research

Professor Andy Giraud

contact details

Professor Andy GiraudAndy Giraud
Murdoch Childrens Research Institute
Royal Children's Hospital
Flemington Road
Parkville Victoria 3052

T +61 3 8341 6446
E andrew.giraud@mcri.edu.au

biography

Andy Giraud trained in cell biology at The University of Melbourne, and subsequently in gastrointestinal pathology and endocrinology in the Physiological Laboratory, University of Liverpool, UK, and at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA. He returned to Australia in 1986 as a QE2 Fellow, then NHMRC Senior Research Officer, before joining The University of Melbourne's Department of Medicine at Western Hospital in 1989. His research has been continuously supported by NHMRC and other peer-reviewed bodies since 1988 ($7 million in total grants), and is focused on understanding the mechanisms underlying inflammatory diseases of the gut like inflammatory bowel disease and gastric cancer. Andy moved to MCRI in August 2007 to take up the position of Theme Director. He co-leads the Gastrointestinal Research in Inflammation & Pathology (GRIP) group, investigating why uncontrolled inflammation leads to gastrointestinal disease, how this can be prevented by controlling infectious agents, and developing new therapeutics that blunt the inflammatory response. His group has recently published a series of papers on this work in the high impact journals Nature Medicine and Gastroenterology. He is an editor and editorial board member for American Journal of Physiology (Gastro/Hepatology) and Journal of Gastroenterology.

achievements

National Health & Medical Research Council Senior Research Fellowship (2011-2015)

research focus & interest

Our group is interested in understanding how chronic inflammatory conditions of the gut produces diseases like inflammatory bowel disease and cancer. We are particularly focussed on the following;

  • How IL-6 family cytokines are turned on chronically by environmental and genetic triggers to produce inflammatory pathology of the gut
  • Identification and function of a new family of gut-specific tumour suppressor genes, the gastrokines
  • How bacterial infection suppresses tumour suppressor gene activity and promotes cancer
  • The role of IL-1 family cytokines in eosinophilic oesophagitis

 

publications

JUDD LM, BREDIN K, KALANTZIS A, JENKINS BJ,  ERNST M, GIRAUD AS. STAT3 activation regulates gastric tumour growth, inflammation and vascularization  in a mouse model of gastric tumorigenesis. Gastroenterology 131(4): 1073-1085, 2006. (IF13.2).   
GIRAUD AS.  Metaplasia as a premalignant pathology in the stomach (editorial). Gastroenterology 132:2053-6, 2007 (IF13).
JACKSON CB, JUDD LM,     MENHENIOTT TR, KRONBORG I, DOW C, YEOMANS ND, BOUSSIOUTAS A, ROBB L, GIRAUD AS.  Augmented gp130-mediated cytokine signaling accompanies human gastric oncogenesis.  J. Pathol 213: 140-151, 2007.  (IF6.4).   
JUDD LM, ULAGANATHAN M, HOWLETT M, GIRAUD AS. Cytokine signalling by gp130 regulates gastric mucosal healing after ulceration, and indirectly antral tumour progression.  J. Pathol. 217:552-562, 2009 (IF6.4).
HOWLETT M, GIRAUD AS, LESCESEN H, JACKSON CB, KALANTZIS A, VAN DRIEL IR, ROBB L, VAN DER HOEK M, ERNST M, MINAMOTO T, BOUSSIOUTAS A, OSHIMA H, OSHIMA M, JUDD LM. The  IL-6 family cytokine IL-11 regulates homeostatic epithelial turnover and promotes gastric tumor development. Gastroenterology 136:967-977, 2009 (IF12.8).
MENEHENIOTT TR, PETERSON A, O'CONNOR L, LEE KS, KALANTZIS A, KORDOVA I, GIRAUD AS. A novel gastrokine, GKN3, marks gastric atrophy and shows evidence of adaptive gene loss in humans.  Gastroenterology 138:1823-1835, 2010 (IF12.9).
PETERSON A#, MENEHNIOTT TR#, O'CONNOR LO, WALDUCK AK, FOX JG, KAWAKAMI K, MINAMOTO T, ONG EK, WANG TC, JUDD LM*, GIRAUD AS*.  Helicobacter pylori infection methylates and silences TFF2 leading to gastric tumor development in mice and humans. Gastroenterology  139:2005-2017, 2010 (IF 12.1).                               
TOMITA H, TAKAISHI S, MENHENIOTT TR, YANG X, SHIBATA W, BETZ K.S., KAWAKAMI K, MINAMOTO T, TOMASETTO C, RIO M-C, GIRAUD AS, WANG TC. Hormonal inhibition of gastric carcinogenesis is mediated by suppression of epigenetic silencing of TFF1. Gastroenterology 140:879-891, 2011 (IF12.1).
NIEMINEN P, MORGAN NV, FENWICK AL, PARMANEN S, VEISTINEN L, MIKKOLA M, VAN DER SPEK PJ, GIRAUD AS, JUDD LM, ARTE S, BRUETON LA, WALL SA, MATHIJSSEN I, MAHER E, WILKIE AOM, KREIBORG S, THESLEFF I.  Inactivation of IL11 signaling causes craniosynostosis, delayed tooth eruption  and supernumerary teeth.  Am. J. Human Genetics 89:67-81, 2011.  IF 11.7   
HOWLETT M, VAN DRIEL IR, MENHENIOTT TR, GIRAUD AS*,  JUDD LM*. Chronic  rhIL-11 treatment in vivo induces fundic gland atrophy, mucosal proliferation and induction of genes which promote transformation in the normal mouse stomach.  Gut  (In press, 2011) IF 10.6