Selected Bibliography

• Higgins Geoff S, Harris Adrian L, Prevo Remko, Helleday Thomas, McKenna W G, and Buffa Francesca M (2010) Overexpression Of POLQ Confers a Poor Prognosis In Early Breast Cancer Patients. Oncotarget, 1(3):175-84.

• Higgins G S, Prevo R, Lee Y-F, Helleday T, Muschel R J, Taylor S, Yoshimura M, Hickson I D, Bernhard E J, and McKenna W G (2010) A siRNA Screen of Genes Involved in DNA Repair Identifies Tumour Specific Radiosensitisation by POLQ Knockdown Cancer Res, 70(7):2984-93.

• Higgins Geoff S, Prevo Remko, Lee Yin-Fai, Helleday Thomas, Muschel Ruth J, Taylor Steve, Yoshimura Michio, Hickson Ian D, Bernhard Eric J, and McKenna W G (2010) A small interfering RNA screen of genes involved in DNA repair identifies tumor-specific radiosensitization by POLQ knockdown. Cancer Res, 70(7):2984-93.

• Maughan TS, Illidge TM, Hoskin P, McKenna WG, Brunner TM, Mackay RI, Oliver A, Young C, and Chan CS (2010) Radiotherapy research priorities for the UK Clin Oncology (R Coll Radiol), 22:707-9.

• Yang J, Parsons J, Nicolay NH, Caporali S, Harrington CF, Singh R, Finch D, D'Atri S, Farmer PB, Johnston PG, McKenna WG, Dianov G, and Sharma RA (2010) Cells deficient in the base excision repair protein, DNA polymerase beta, are hypersensitive to oxaliplatin chemotherapy Oncogene, 29(3):463-468.

Prof Gillies McKenna

W. Gillies McKenna is Director of the Gray Institute for Radiation Oncology and Biology at the University of Oxford which is jointly funded by Cancer Research UK, the Medical Research Council and the University of Oxford and he is Head of Department of Oncology.

Prof. McKenna’s research links basic science studies with translational-clinical applications. His research has focused on effects of radiation on cancer cells and on mechanisms of resistance to radiation with the goal of sensitizing cells to radiation by blocking mechanisms that control cell survival. Specifically he is interested in oncogenically activated signal transduction pathways that exert a radioprotective effect on tumour cells. His group has shown that the EGFR-Ras-PI3K-PTEN-Akt pathway appears to the major radioprotective pathway active in most solid tumours and this pathway then presents targets that could be manipulated in a clinical setting to modify the radiation response. His clinical interests are the treatment of lung cancer, soft tissue sarcomas, skin cancer, head and neck cancer, and melanomas.

Professor McKenna was born in Scotland. He received a Bachelor of Science in Zoology at the University of Edinburgh in 1972. He was a member of the Medical Scientist Training Programme at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and received his M.D. and Ph.D. in 1981. His Ph.D. thesis research investigated the cleavage patterns of DNA by mammalian endonucleases. Following an Internship in Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University Hospital and a Residency in Radiation Oncology at the National Cancer Institute. Dr. McKenna moved to the Department of Radiation Oncology at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine where he rose to become Chairman and Henry K. Pancoast Professor of Radiation Oncology. In 2005 he moved to his present position.

He is the author of over 90 research articles and 40 editorials, reviews and chapters. He has edited a textbook on Clinical Oncology. He was the President of the Radiation Research Society and a member of the Board of Scientific Advisors for the National Cancer Institute. He was the 2005 recipient of the Association for Radiation Research Weiss Medal and is a Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences and the Royal College of Radiology.

Professional Appointments
2005 Professor
Dept. of Radiation Oncology and Biology
University of Oxford

1995-2005 Henry K Pancoast Professor
Dept. of Radiation Oncology and Biology
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

1991-95 Henry K Pancoast Associate Professor
Dept. of Radiation Oncology and Biology
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

1987-91 Assistant Professor
Dept. of Radiation Oncology and Biology
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine

1985-87 Assistant Professor of Radiology
Dept. Radiology and Nuclear Medicine
Uniformed Services University of Health Sciences

1991-2005 Chairman
Dept. Radiation Oncology
University of Pennsylvania

1987-2005 Staff Radiation Therapist
Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania