Prof Pam Sykes

Position/s:	Professor Preventive Cancer Biology, Flinders Centre for Cancer Prevention and Control School of Medicine
Phone:	work+61 8 82044379
Email:	pam.sykes@flinders.edu.au
Location:	Flinders Centre for Innovation in Cancer (3L:100)
Postal address:	GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, South Australia

Biography

Prof Pamela Sykes has a PhD in Genetics and has worked in the area of molecular genetics in Australia and the US over the last 25 years. Prof Sykes is a Strategic Professor in the area of Preventive Cancer Biology and heads her own research group of staff and post-graduate students studying the biologiical effects of low doses of ionising radiation. Her current research is focussed on studying the protective role of low dose radiation. She is currently funded by the United States Department of Energy Low dose Radiation Program, and the Flinders Medical Centre Foundation. Some of her current appointments include membership on state and national committees for radiation protection and she is an Associate Editor for the journal Radiation Research.

Qualifications

B.Sc (Hons) PhD, FFSc (RCPA)

Key responsibilities

Undergraduate and post-graduate teaching and supervision
Supervision of low dose radiation research projects

Teaching

Topic Coordinator:

MMED3915 Human Molecular Genetics

Topic Lecturer:

MMED3915 Human Molecular Genetics

Research and supervision

Research expertise

Genetics
Molecular biology
Oncology and carcinogenesis

Research interests

We have been using the pKZ1 transgenic mouse chromosomal inversion assay to study the mutagenic effect of very low doses of DNA damaging agents. We demonstrated that very low doses of radiation can protect from endogenous chromosomal inversions suggesting that low doses of radiation can protect from chromosomal damage. Our current research focuses on understanding the mechanism of low dose radiation induced protection from mutation and cancer. We have a number of active projects including:

The temporal response for chromosomal inversions after low dose radiation exposure
The effect of known chemical radioprotectors on chromosomal inversion in association with low dose radiation.
The effect of low dose radiation on DNA methylation levels
The role of radiation induced bystander effects after low dose radiation in vivo
Intercellular induced apoptosis as a possible mechanism for low dose radiation induced protection from cancer
Effect of low dose radiation on prostate cancer progression in a mouse tumour model

Supervisory interests

Cancer genetics
Epigenetics
Molecular biology
Molecular genetics
Radiobiology

RHD research supervision

Current

Principal supervisor: Radiobiology (3);

Associate supervisor: Radiobiology (2);

Completion

Associate supervisor: Cancer, radiobiology, mutation research (5);

RHD Student Achievements

Benjamin Blyth
Young Investigator award at the Australian Radiation Protection Society national meeting 2010 - October 2010

Mark Lawrence
Competitive student award to attend Australian Radiation Protection Society Conference - October 2010

Michelle Newman
Competitive student award to attend Australian Radiation Protection Society Conference - October 2010

Michelle Newman
Australian Society for Medical Research (SA) "Healthy Aging" research poster award - June 2013

Publications

Book chapters

Sykes, P.J. (2001). Detecting monoclonal immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor gene rearrangements in B- and T-cell malignancies by polymerase chain reaction. In Faguet, G B, ed. Hematologic Malignancies: Methods and Techniques. Totowa, USA: Humana Press, pp. 117-132.

Refereed journal articles

Newman, M.R., Blyth, B.J., Hussey, D.J., Jardine, D.R., Sykes, P.J. and Ormsby, R.J. (2012). Sensitive quantitative analysis of murine LINE1 DNA methylation using high resolution melt analysis. Epigenetics, 7(1), pp.92-105. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/epi.7.1.18815.

Newman, M., Blyth, B., Hussey, D., Jardine, D., Sykes, P. and Ormsby, R. (2012). Sensitive quantitative analysis of murine LINE1 DNA methylation using high resolution melt analysis. Epigenetics, 7(1), pp.92-105. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.4161/epi.7.1.18815.

Blyth, B.J. and Sykes, P.J. (2011). Radiation-induced bystander effects: what are they are how relevant are they to human radiation exposures? Radiation Research, 176(2), pp.139-157. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1667/RR2548.1.

Blyth, B.J., Azzam, E.I., Howell, R.W., Ormsby, R.J., Staudacher, A. and Sykes, P.J. (2010). An adoptive transfer method to detect low-dose radiation-induced bystander effects in vivo. Radiation Research, 173(2), pp.125-137. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1667/RR1899.1.

Staudacher, A., Blyth, B.J., Lawrence, M.D., Ormsby, R.J., Bezak, E. and Sykes, P.J. (2010). If bystander effects for apoptosis occur in spleen after low dose irradiation in vivo then the magnitude of the effect falls within the range of normal homeostatic apoptosis. Radiation Research, 174, pp.727-731.

Hooker, A.M., Grdina, D.J., Murley, J.S., Blyth, B.J., Ormsby, R.J., Bezak, E., et al. (2009). Low doses of amifostine protect from chromosomal inversions in spleen in vivo when administered after an occupationally relevant X-radiation dose. International Journal of Low Radiation, 6(1), pp.43-56.

Morley, A.A., Latham, S.E., Brisco, M., Sykes, P.J., Sutton, R., Hughes, E., et al. (2009). Sensitive and specific measurement of minimal residual disease in acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, 11(3), pp.201-210. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.2353/jmoldx.2009.080048.

Brisco, M., Latham, S.E., Sutton, R., Hughes, E., Wilczek, V.J., Van Zanten, K., et al. (2009). Determining the repertoire of IGH gene rearrangements to develop molecular markers for minimal residual disease in B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Journal of Molecular Diagnostics, 11(3), pp.194-200. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.2353/jmoldx.2009.080047.

Day, T.K., Hooker, A.M., Zeng, G. and Sykes, P.J. (2007). Low dose X-radiation adaptive response in spleen and prostate of Atm knockout heterozygous mice. International Journal of Radiation Biology, 83(8), pp.523-534. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09553000701420582.

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Book chapters

Blyth, B. and Sykes, P. (2011). Recent advances in low dose radiobiology and implications for cancer risk. In L. Marcu and E. Bezak, ed. Recent Advances and Research Updates in Medical Physics and Radiation Biology. Kerala, India: International Research Promotion Council, pp. 221-234.

Blyth, B.J. and Sykes, P.J. (2011). Low dose radiobiology and radiation risk. In L. Marcu and E. Bezak, ed. Recent Advances and Research Updates in Medical Physics and Radiation Biology. Australia: International Research Promotion Council, p. In press-In press.

Refereed journal articles

Day, T.K., Zeng, G., Hooker, A.M., Bhat, M., Scott, B., Turner, D.R., et al. (2007). Adaptive response for chromosomal inversions in pKZ1 mouse prostate induced by low doses of X radiation delivered after a high dose. Radiation Research, 167(6), pp.682-692. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1667/RR0764.1.

Day, T.K., Zeng, G., Hooker, A.M., Bhat, M., Turner, D.R. and Sykes, P.J. (2007). Extremely low doses of X-radiation can induce adaptive responses in mouse prostate. Dose-Response, 5(4), pp.315-322. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.2203/dose-response.07-019.Day.

Sykes, P.J. and Day, T.K. (2007). Requirements for identification of low dose and non-linear mutagenic responses to ionising radiation. Dose-Response, 5(4), pp.308-314. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.2203/dose-response.07-018.Sykes.

Zeng, G., Day, T.K., Hooker, A.M., Blyth, B.J., Bhat, M., Tilley, W.D., et al. (2006). Non-linear chromosomal inversion response in prostate after low dose X-radiation exposure. Mutation Research-Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis, 602(1 - 2), pp.65-73. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mrfmmm.2006.08.002.

Sykes, P.J., Morley, A.A. and Hooker, A.M. (2006). The PKZ1 Recombination Mutation Assay: A Sensitive Assay for Low Dose Studies. Dose-Response, 4(2), pp.91-105. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.2203/dose-response.05-035.Sykes.

Sykes, P.J., Day, T.K., Swinburne, S.J., Lane, J.M., Morley, A.A. and Hooker, A.M. (2006). In Vivo Mutagenic Effect of Very Low Dose Radiation. Dose-Response, 4(4), pp.309-316. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.2203/dose-response.06-004.Sykes.

Day, T.K., Zeng, G., Hooker, A.M., Bhat, M., Scott, B.R., Turner, D.R., et al. (2006). Extremely low priming doses of X radiation induce an adaptive response for chromosomal inversions in pKZ1 mouse prostate. Radiation Research, 166(5), pp.757-766. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1667/RR0689.1.

Dare, R., Sykes, P.J., Morley, A.A. and Brisco, M. (2006). Effect of age on the repertoire of cytotoxic memory (CD8+CD45RO+) T cells in peripheral blood: The use of rearranged T cell receptor gamma genes as clonal markers. Journal of Immunological Methods, 308(1/2), pp.1-12. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jim.2005.08.016.

Jessup, C.F., Brereton, H.M., Sykes, P.J., Thiel, M., Coster, D.J. and Williams, K.A. (2005). Local gene transfer to modulate rat corneal allograft rejection. Investigative Ophthalmology and Visual Science, 46(5), pp.1675-1681. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1167/iovs.04-1140.

Klebe, S., Coster, D.J., Sykes, P.J., Swinburne, S., Hallsworth, P.G., Scheerlinck, J.-P.Y., et al. (2005). Prolongation of sheep corneal allograft survival by transfer of the gene encoding ovine IL-12-p40 but not IL-4 to donor corneal endothelium. Journal of Immunology, 175(4), pp.2219-2226.

Hooker, A.M., Morley, A.A., Tilley, W.D. and Sykes, P.J. (2004). Cancer-associated genes can affect somatic intrachromosomal recombination early in carcinogenesis. Mutation Research-Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis, 550(1-2), pp.1-10. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.mrfmmm.2004.01.003.

Hooker, A.M., Bhat, M., Day, T.K., Lane, J.M., Swinburne, S., Morley, A.A., et al. (2004). The linear no-threshold model does not hold for low-dose ionizing radiation. Radiation Research, 162(4), pp.447-452. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1667/RR3228.

Marshall, G.M., Haber, M., Kwan, E., Zhu, L., Ferrara, D., Chengyuan, X., et al. (2003). Importance of minimal residual disease testing during the second year of therapy for children with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Journal of Clinical Oncology, 21(4), pp.704-709. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1200/JCO.2003.10.080.

Hooker, A.M., Horne, R., Morley, A.A. and Sykes, P.J. (2002). Dose-dependent increase or decrease of somatic intrachromosomal recombination produced by etoposide. Mutation Research-Fundamental and Molecular Mechanisms of Mutagenesis, 500(1-2), pp.117-124. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0027-5107(02)00007-6.

Henry, J.M., Morley, A.A. and Sykes, P.J. (2001). Purging of myeloma cells using all-trans retinoic acid in a mouse model. Experimental Hematology, 29(3), pp.315-321.

Sykes, P.J., Mccallum, B.D., Bangay, M., Hooker, A.M. and Morley, A.A. (2001). Effect of exposure to 900 MHz radiofrequency radiation on intrachromosomal recombination in pKZ1 mice. Radiation Research, 156(5), pp.495-502.

Klebe, S., Bloom, D.C., Sykes, P.J., Williams, K.A. and Coster, D.J. (2001). Gene transfer to ovine corneal endothelium. Clinical and Experimental Ophthalmology, 29, pp.316-322.

Klebe, S., Sykes, P.J., Krishnan, R. and Williams, K.A. (2001). Prolongation of sheep allograft survival by ex-vivo transfer of the gene encoding interleukin 10. Transplantation, 71(9), pp.1214-1220.

Brisco, M., Sykes, P.J., Hughes, E., Neoh, S.H., Snell, L., Dolman, G., et al. (2001). Comparison of methods for assessment of minimal residual disease in childhood B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Leukemia, 15(1), pp.385-390.

Journal articles

Klebe, S., Mead, K., Brennan, J.M., Skinner, J.M., Sykes, P.J. and Allen, P.W. (2006). Molecular testing for soft tissue tumours with known translocations (Letter). Pathology, 38(4), pp.382-383. [online]. Available from: http://dx.doi.org/ 10.1080/00313020600820930.

Brisco, M., Sykes, P.J., Hughes, E., Story, C., Rice, M.S., Schwarer, A.P., et al. (2001). Molecular relapse can be detected in blood in a sensitive and timely fashion in B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Leukemia, 15(11), pp.1801-1802.

Conference publications

Jessup, C.F., Brereton, H.M., Sykes, P.J., Thiel, M., Coster, D.J. and Williams, K.A. (2004). Modulation of antigen presentation and co-simulation during rat corneal allograft rejection. In EXPERIMENTAL EYE RESEARCH. International Congress of Eye Reseach.

Sykes, P.J. (2003). Sensitive detection of somatic intrachromosomal recombination in response to low dose radiation exposure - how low can we go? (Abstract). In Ronald Cooper et al, ed. 12th International Congress of Radiation Research Book of Abstracts. 12th International Congress of Radiation Research. p. 140.

Sykes, P.J., Bhat, M., Cormack, J., Morley, A.A. and Hooker, A.M. (2003). Effect of low dose radiation on somatic intrachromosomal recombination in vivo and in vitro (Abstract). In Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis. Environmental Mutagenesis: From Mechanisms to Risk Assessment. pp. 208-208.

Jessup, C.F., Brereton, H.M., Sykes, P.J., Thiel, M., Coster, D.J. and Williams, K.A. (2003). Ex vivo gene transfer to donor rat corneas (Abstract). In Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand. Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand.

Hooker, A.M., Morley, A.A., Tilley, W.D. and Sykes, P.J. (2003). Genes associated with cancer can affect somatic intrachromosomal recombination early in carcinogenesis [Abstract]. In Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis. Environmental Mutagenesis: From Mechanisms to Risk Assessment. pp. 180-180.

Day, T.K., Hooker, A.M., Morley, A.A. and Sykes, P.J. (2003). Characterisation of an adaptive response in pKZ1 mice after exposure to x-radiation (Abstract). In Cooper, R et al, ed. 12th International Congress of Radiation Research: final program & book of abstracts. 12th International Congress of Radiation Research. p. 280.

Williams, K.A., Klebe, S., Sykes, P.J., Swinburne, S. and Coster, D.J. (2003). Gene Therapy to Prolong Ovine Corneal Allograft Survival (Abstract). In Clinical Immunology. Federation of Clinical Immunology Societies. p. S34.

Brisco, M., Sykes, P.J., Mccallum, B.D., Hughes, E., Latham, S.E. and Morley, A.A. (2001). A simple molecular test to predict outcome in childhood B-lineage acute lymphoblastic leukemia, by quantifying leukemia in marrow at day 14 of induction treatment. In Blood. 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology. pp. A318-A318.

Brisco, M., Sykes, P.J., Peach, N., Marshall, G. and Morley, A.A. (2001). In childhood leukemia, resistance to drugs is often already present at diagnosis. In Blood. 43rd Annual Meeting of the American Society of Hematology. pp. 4835-4835.

Hooker, A.M., Morley, A.A. and Sykes, P.J. (2001). Effect of c-myc over-expression and loss of MSH-2 expression on somatic intrachromosomal recombination. In Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis. EMS 2001: A Science Odyssey. pp. 39-39.

Klebe, S., Coster, D.J., Sykes, P.J., Swinburne, S. and Williams, K.A. (2001). Gene therapy with p40 IL-12 (but not IL-4) prolongs corneal allograft survival in sheep. In 19th Annual Scientific Meeting - Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand. Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand. pp. A11-A11.

Standfield, S., Sykes, P.J., Stein-Oakley, A., Coster, D.J. and Williams, K.A. (2001). Mediators of Rat Corneal Allograft Rejection (abstract). In 19th Annual Scientific Meeting - Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand. 2001 Conference - Transplantation Society of Australia and New Zealand. pp. A24-A24.

Sykes, P.J., Hooker, A.M., Mccallum, B.D. and Morley, A.A. (2001). Agents which reduce somatic intrachromosomal recombination below spontaneous frequency in the pKZ1 recombination mutagenesis model. In Environmental and Molecular Mutagenesis. EMS 2001: A Science Odyssey. pp. 74-74.

Patents

Brisco, M., Sykes, P. and Morley, A. (2011). Method of analysing a marker nucleic acid molecule (Patent USA-7785783). Patent owned by: Monoquant pty.

Morley, A.A., Brisco, M. and Sykes, P.J. (2004). Identifcation of clonal cells by repeats in (eg.) T-cell receptor V/D/J genes. (Patent Australia-PCT/AU2004/000625). Patent owned by: Flinders University.

Other public research outputs

Hooker, A.M., Cormack, J., Morley, A.A. and Sykes, P.J. (2003). Effect of low dose radiation on somatic intrachromosomal recombination in vivo and in vitro (Abstract). 12th International Congress of Radiation Research Book of Abstracts, p.329.

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Professional and community engagement

Member, South Australian Radiation Protection Committee
Associate Editor. Radiation Research

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