Prof Bryan Day
CNE Chair | Management Committee
Prof Day is the Group Leader of the Sid Faithfull Brain Cancer Research Laboratory at QIMR Berghofer MRI and an internationally recognised expert in brain cancer. The focus of his laboratory's research is to better understand the molecular mechanisms which drive the most common and aggressive forms of both adult and paediatric brain cancers.
Among Prof Day’s achievements is the characterisation of the receptor EphA3 as a therapeutic target in glioblastoma. This research has led to clinical testing of a novel EphA3 targeting therapeutic antibody in patients with recurrent brain cancer.
A major achievement has been the development a brain tumour and cell culture bank at QIMR Berghofer which has collected >350 tumour specimen’s to-date. From this resource >60 primary cell lines have been generated which are the basis of his group's research and collaborative researchers around the world.
Twelve of these models have been characterised in great detail and made publicly available as a resource termed QCell. QCell models have been used in numerous studies globally and have been published in >50 articles to-date. Prof Day has >2,000 career citations and has published >60 scientific articles directly relating to understanding the biology of brain cancer and defining new therapies to treat these aggressive diseases.
Prof Day is a Co-Director of the Children’s Hospital Foundation, Children’s Brain Cancer Centre (CBCC) and Deputy Chair of the Cooperative Trials Group for Neuro-Oncology (COGNO) scientific advisory board. He sits on the Steering Committee for Brain Cancer Biobanking Australia (BCBA) and is the Brain Tumour Stream Lead – for the MRFF funded Centre for Personalised Analysis of Cancer (CPAC).
He is a past Director for the Australian Society of Medical Research (ASMR) and holds adjunct professorial titles from The University of Queensland and QLD University of Technology (QUT).
Selected Publications
Abdalla Y, Luo M, Mäkilä E, Day BW, Voelcker NH, Tong WY. Effectiveness of porous silicon nanoparticle treatment at inhibiting the migration of a heterogeneous glioma cell population. J Nanobiotechnology. 2021 Feb 26;19(1):60. doi: 10.1186/s12951-021-00798-4
Ebert LM, Yu W, Gargett T, Toubia J, Kollis PM, Tea MN, Ebert BW, Bardy C, van den Hurk M, Bonder CS, Manavis J, Ensbey KS, Oksdath Mansilla M, Scheer KG, Perrin SL, Ormsby RJ, Poonnoose S, Koszyca B, Pitson SM, Day BW, Gomez GA, Brown MP. Endothelial, pericyte and tumor cell expression in glioblastoma identifies fibroblast activation protein (FAP) as an excellent target for immunotherapy. Clin Transl Immunology. 2020 Oct 14;9(10):e1191. doi: 10.1002/cti2.1191
Brighi C, Reid L, Genovesi LA, Kojic M, Millar A, Bruce Z, White AL, Day BW, Rose S, Whittaker AK, Puttick S. Comparative study of preclinical mouse models of high-grade glioma for nanomedicine research: the importance of reproducing blood-brain barrier heterogeneity. Theranostics. 2020 May 15;10(14):6361-6371. doi: 10.7150/thno.46468
Li M, Nishio SY, Naruse C, Riddell M, Sapski S, Katsuno T, Hikita T, Mizapourshafiyi F, Smith FM, Cooper LT, Lee MG, Asano M, Boettger T, Krueger M, Wietelmann A, Graumann J, Day BW, Boyd AW, Offermanns S, Kitajiri SI, Usami SI, Nakayama M. Digenic inheritance of mutations in EPHA2 and SLC26A4 in Pendred syndrome. Nat Commun. 2020 Mar 12;11(1):1343. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-15198-9
Phoa AF, Recasens A, Gurgis FMS, Betts TA, Menezes SV, Chau D, Nordfors K, Haapasalo J, Haapasalo H, Johns TG, Stringer BW, Day BW, Buckland ME, Lalaoui N, Munoz L. MK2 Inhibition Induces p53-Dependent Senescence in Glioblastoma Cells. Cancers (Basel). 2020 Mar 11;12(3):654. doi: 10.3390/cancers12030654
Brighi C, Reid L, White AL, Genovesi LA, Kojic M, Millar A, Bruce Z, Day BW, Rose S, Whittaker AK, Puttick S. MR-guided focused ultrasound increases antibody delivery to nonenhancing high-grade glioma. Neurooncol Adv. 2020 Mar 5;2(1):vdaa030. doi: 10.1093/noajnl/vdaa030
D'Souza RCJ, Offenhäuser C, Straube J, Baumgartner U, Kordowski A, Li Y, Stringer BW, Alexander H, Lwin Z, Inglis PL, Jeffree RL, Johns TG, Boyd AW, Day BW. Q-Cell Glioblastoma Resource: Proteomics Analysis Reveals Unique Cell-States are Maintained in 3D Culture. Cells. 2020 Jan 21;9(2):267. doi: 10.3390/cells9020267
Day BW, Lathia JD, Bruce ZC, D'Souza RCJ, Baumgartner U, Ensbey KS, Lim YC, Stringer BW, Akgül S, Offenhäuser C, Li Y, Jamieson PR, Smith FM, Jurd CLR, Robertson T, Inglis PL, Lwin Z, Jeffree RL, Johns TG, Bhat KPL, Rich JN, Campbell KP, Boyd AW. The dystroglycan receptor maintains glioma stem cells in the vascular niche. Acta Neuropathol. 2019 Dec;138(6):1033-1052. doi: 10.1007/s00401-019-02069-x
Lim YC, Ensbey KS, Offenhäuser C, D'souza RCJ, Cullen JK, Stringer BW, Quek H, Bruce ZC, Kijas A, Cianfanelli V, Mahboubi B, Smith F, Jeffree RL, Wiesmüeller L, Wiegmans AP, Bain A, Lombard FJ, Roberts TL, Khanna KK, Lavin MF, Kim B, Hamerlik P, Johns TG, Coster MJ, Boyd AW, Day BW. Simultaneous targeting of DNA replication and homologous recombination in glioblastoma with a polyether ionophore. Neuro Oncol. 2020 Feb 20;22(2):216-228. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/noz159
Müller Bark J, Kulasinghe A, Chua B, Day BW, Punyadeera C. Circulating biomarkers in patients with glioblastoma. Br J Cancer. 2020 Feb;122(3):295-305. doi: 10.1038/s41416-019-0603-6
Li Y, Song Q, Day BW. Phase I and phase II sonidegib and vismodegib clinical trials for the treatment of paediatric and adult MB patients: a systemic review and meta-analysis. Acta Neuropathol Commun. 2019 Jul 30;7(1):123. doi: 10.1186/s40478-019-0773-8
Stringer BW, Day BW, D'Souza RCJ, Jamieson PR, Ensbey KS, Bruce ZC, Lim YC, Goasdoué K, Offenhäuser C, Akgül S, Allan S, Robertson T, Lucas P, Tollesson G, Campbell S, Winter C, Do H, Dobrovic A, Inglis PL, Jeffree RL, Johns TG, Boyd AW. A reference collection of patient-derived cell line and xenograft models of proneural, classical and mesenchymal glioblastoma. Sci Rep. 2019 Mar 20;9(1):4902. doi: 10.1038/s41598-019-41277-z. Erratum in: Sci Rep. 2020 Jan 21;10(1):1185. PMID: 30894629; PMCID: PMC6427001.
Akgül S, Patch AM, D'Souza RCJ, Mukhopadhyay P, Nones K, Kempe S, Kazakoff SH, Jeffree RL, Stringer BW, Pearson JV, Waddell N, Day BW. Intratumoural Heterogeneity Underlies Distinct Therapy Responses and Treatment Resistance in Glioblastoma. Cancers (Basel). 2019 Feb 6;11(2):190. doi: 10.3390/cancers11020190
Offenhäuser C, Al-Ejeh F, Puttick S, Ensbey KS, Bruce ZC, Jamieson PR, Smith FM, Stringer BW, Carrington B, Fuchs AV, Bell CA, Jeffree R, Rose S, Thurecht KJ, Boyd AW, Day BW. EphA3 Pay-Loaded Antibody Therapeutics for the Treatment of Glioblastoma. Cancers (Basel). 2018 Dec 17;10(12):519. doi: 10.3390/cancers10120519
Stringer BW, Bunt J, Day BW, Barry G, Jamieson PR, Ensbey KS, Bruce ZC, Goasdoué K, Vidal H, Charmsaz S, Smith FM, Cooper LT, Piper M, Boyd AW, Richards LJ. Nuclear factor one B (NFIB) encodes a subtype-specific tumour suppressor in glioblastoma. Oncotarget. 2016 May 17;7(20):29306-20. doi: 10.18632/oncotarget.8720
Puttick S, Stringer BW, Day BW, Bruce ZC, Ensbey KS, Mardon K, Cowin GJ, Thurecht KJ, Whittaker AK, Fay M, Boyd AW, Rose S. EphA2 as a Diagnostic Imaging Target in Glioblastoma: A Positron Emission Tomography/Magnetic Resonance Imaging Study. Mol Imaging. 2015;14:385-99. PMID: 26218510.
Day BW, Stringer BW, Boyd AW. Eph receptors as therapeutic targets in glioblastoma. Br J Cancer. 2014 Sep 23;111(7):1255-61. doi: 10.1038/bjc.2014.73. Epub 2014 Aug 21. PMID: 25144626; PMCID: PMC4183860.
Flavahan WA, Wu Q, Hitomi M, Rahim N, Kim Y, Sloan AE, Weil RJ, Nakano I, Sarkaria JN, Stringer BW, Day BW, Li M, Lathia JD, Rich JN, Hjelmeland AB. Brain tumor initiating cells adapt to restricted nutrition through preferential glucose uptake. Nat Neurosci. 2013 Oct;16(10):1373-82. doi: 10.1038/nn.3510
Day BW, Stringer BW, Wilson J, Jeffree RL, Jamieson PR, Ensbey KS, Bruce ZC, Inglis P, Allan S, Winter C, Tollesson G, Campbell S, Lucas P, Findlay W, Kadrian D, Johnson D, Robertson T, Johns TG, Bartlett PF, Osborne GW, Boyd AW. Glioma surgical aspirate: a viable source of tumor tissue for experimental research. Cancers (Basel). 2013 Apr 3;5(2):357-71. doi: 10.3390/cancers5020357
Day BW, Stringer BW, Al-Ejeh F, Ting MJ, Wilson J, Ensbey KS, Jamieson PR, Bruce ZC, Lim YC, Offenhäuser C, Charmsaz S, Cooper LT, Ellacott JK, Harding A, Leveque L, Inglis P, Allan S, Walker DG, Lackmann M, Osborne G, Khanna KK, Reynolds BA, Lickliter JD, Boyd AW. EphA3 maintains tumorigenicity and is a therapeutic target in glioblastoma multiforme. Cancer Cell. 2013 Feb 11;23(2):238-48. doi: 10.1016/j.ccr.2013.01.007
Day BW, Stringer BW, Spanevello MD, Charmsaz S, Jamieson PR, Ensbey KS, Carter JC, Cox JM, Ellis VJ, Brown CL, Walker DG, Inglis PL, Allan S, Reynolds BA, Lickliter JD, Boyd AW. ELK4 neutralization sensitizes glioblastoma to apoptosis through downregulation of the anti-apoptotic protein Mcl-1. Neuro Oncol. 2011 Nov;13(11):1202-12. doi: 10.1093/neuonc/nor119. Epub 2011 Aug 16. PMID: 21846680; PMCID: PMC3199151.