Molecular Cell Biology laboratory, Trinity College Dublin
Prof. Seamus J. Martin
Email: martinsj@tcd.ie
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Biographical Information
Seamus is a PhD graduate of The National University of Ireland (1990) and has held post-doctoral fellowships at University College London, UK, and The University of California, San Diego, USA. He is a co-author of the 11th and 12th editions of the major Immunology textbook ‘Essential Immunology’ and is an editorial board member and receiving editor of several journals including Science Signaling, Cell Reports, Oncogene and Cell Death and Differentiation. He has received several prestigious national and international awards for his research including; Wellcome Trust International Prize Fellowship (1994-1996) Wellcome Trust Senior Fellowship (1996-2001), Science Foundation Ireland Principal Investigator Awards (2002-2007 and 2008-2013), The BA Charles Darwin Award (2005), and The GlaxoSmithKline Award of The Biochemical Society UK (2006). He was elected to the Royal Irish Academy in 2006 and to the European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) in 2009. |
Research InterestsThe
primary focus of our lab is the natural cell death
process known as apoptosis or programmed cell death. Apoptosis is
a
mode of cell death that is under molecular control and can be triggered
by a multitude of stimuli—both physiological as well as
pathological.
Cells die by apoptosis during development, tissue homeostasis,
fine-tuning of the immune system, and due to the normal wear and tear
that multicellular organisms experience in everyday life.
Apoptosis is
also observed as a part of the damage-limitation response seen during
infectious disease and is seen during many other pathological
conditions, such as cancer and neurodegeneration. Understanding
apoptosis at a molecular level is likely to provide new insights into many
fundamental biological processes and result in new
ways of treating conditions where either too few (cancer, autoimmune
disease) or too many (AIDS, neurodegeneration) cells die. |
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What we work onRegulation
of cell death and immunity by caspases Interested in working in our group?We are always interested in recruiting talented and motivated people to the lab. Please contact Seamus (martinsj@tcd.ie) for further details. |
Mitochondrial Fission |
 With James D. Watson
at Genetics Symposium, TCD, 2008 |
Relevant links Martin Lab Press Release |
Selected Publications:
Martin, S. J. & Green, D. R. (1995). Protease activation during apoptosis: death by a thousand cuts? Cell, 82, 349-352.
Martin, S. J., Newmeyer, D. D., Mathias, S., Farschon, D. M., Wang, H. G., Reed, J. C., Kolesnick, R. N. & Green, D. R. (1995). Cell-free reconstitution of Fas-, UV radiation- and ceramide-induced apoptosis. EMBO Journal, 14, 5191-5200.
Martin, S. J., Reutelingsperger, C. P., McGahon, A. J., Rader, J. A., van Schie, R. C., LaFace, D. M. & Green, D. R. (1995). Early redistribution of plasma membrane phosphatidylserine is a general feature of apoptosis regardless of the initiating stimulus: inhibition by overexpression of Bcl-2 and Abl. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 182, 1545-1556.
Martin, S. J., Amarante-Mendes, G. P., Shi, L., Chuang, T. H., Casiano, C. A., O'Brien, G. A., Fitzgerald, P., Tan, E. M., Bokoch, G. M., Greenberg, A. H. & Green, D. R. (1996). The cytotoxic cell protease granzyme B initiates apoptosis in a cell-free system by proteolytic processing and activation of the ICE/CED-3 family protease, CPP32, via a novel two-step mechanism. EMBO Journal, 15, 2407-2416.
Van Antwerp, D. J., Martin, S. J., Kafri, T., Green, D. R. & Verma, I. M. (1996). Suppression of TNF-alpha-induced apoptosis by NF-kappaB. Science, 274, 787-789.
Slee, E. A., Harte, M. T., Kluck, R. M., Wolf, B. B., Casiano, C. A., Newmeyer, D. D., Wang, H. G., Reed, J. C., Nicholson, D. W., Alnemri, E. S., Green, D. R. & Martin, S. J. (1999). Ordering the cytochrome c-initiated caspase cascade: hierarchical activation of caspases-2, -3, -6, -7, -8, and -10 in a caspase-9-dependent manner. Journal of Cell Biology, 144, 281-292.
Adrain, C., Creagh, E. M. & Martin, S. J. (2001). Apoptosis-associated release of Smac/DIABLO from mitochondria requires active caspases and is blocked by Bcl-2. EMBO Journal, 20, 6627-6636.
Slee, E. A., Adrain, C. & Martin, S. J. (2001). Executioner caspase-3, -6, and -7 perform distinct, non-redundant roles during the demolition phase of apoptosis. Journal Biological Chemistry, 276, 7320-7326.
Martin, S. J. (2002). Destabilizing influences in apoptosis: sowing the seeds of IAP destruction. Cell, 109, 793-796.
Murphy, B. M., O'Neill, A. J., Adrain, C., Watson, R. W. & Martin, S. J. (2003). The apoptosome pathway to caspase activation in primary human neutrophils exhibits dramatically reduced requirements for cytochrome C. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 197, 625-632
Hill, M. M., Adrain, C., Duriez, P. J., Creagh, E. M. & Martin, S. J. (2004). Analysis of the composition, assembly kinetics and activity of native Apaf-1 apoptosomes. EMBO Journal, 23, 2134-2145.
Delivani, P., Adrain, C., Taylor, R. C., Duriez, P. J. & Martin, S. J. (2006). Role for CED-9 and Egl-1 as regulators of mitochondrial fission and fusion dynamics. Molecular Cell, 21, 761-773.
Kroemer, G. & Martin, S. J. (2005). Caspase-independent cell death. Nature Medicine, 11, 725-730.
Adrain, C. & Martin, S. J. (2006). Cell biology. Double knockout blow for caspases. Science, 311, 785-786
Cullen, S. P., Adrain, C., Luthi, A. U., Duriez, P. J. & Martin, S. J. (2007). Human and murine granzyme B exhibit divergent substrate preferences. Journal of Cell Biology, 176, 435-444.
Sheridan, C., Delivani, P., Cullen, S. P. & Martin, S. J. (2008). Bax- or Bak-induced mitochondrial fission can be uncoupled from cytochrome C release. Molecular Cell, 31, 570-585.
Talor, R. C., Cullen, S. P. & Martin, S. J. (2008). Apoptosis: controlled demolition at the cellular level. Nature Reviews, Molecular Cell Biology, 9, 231-241.
Walsh, J. G., Cullen, S. P., Sheridan, C., Luthi A. U., Gerner, C. and S. J. Martin. (2008) Executioner caspases –3 and –7 are functionally-distinct proteases. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science. USA. 105, 12815-12819.
Lüthi, A.U., Cullen, S.P., McNeela, E.A., Duriez, P.J., Afonina, I.S., Sheridan, C., Brumatti, G., Taylor, R.C., Kersse, K., Vandenabeele, P., Lavelle, E.C. and S. J. Martin. (2009) Suppression of IL-33 Bioactivity through Proteolysis by Apoptotic Caspases. Immunity, 31, 84-98.
Logue S.E., Elgendy, M. and S. J. Martin (2009) Expression, purification and use of recombinant annexin V for the detection of apoptotic cells. Nature Protocols, 4, 1383-1395.
Adrain, C. and S. J. Martin. (2009) Apoptosis: calling time on apoptosome activity. Science Signaling, 2, p.62, 1-3.
Autret, A. and S. J. Martin. (2009) Emerging role for members of the Bcl-2 family in mitochondrial morphogenesis. Molecular Cell, 36, 355-36.
Afonina, I., Cullen S. P and S. J. Martin. (2010) Cytotoxic and non cytotoxic roles of the CTL/NK proteases granzyme B. Immunological Reviews, 235, 105-116.
Sheridan, C., Brumatti G., Elgendy, M., Brunet, M. and S. J. Martin. (2010) An ERK-dependent pathway to Noxa expression regulates apoptosis by platinum-based chemotherapeutic drugs. Oncogene, 29, 6428-6441.
Martin, S.J. (2010) Opening the cellular poison cabinet. Science, 330, 1330-1331.
Martin, S.J. (2011) Mitochondrial fusion : Bax to the Fussure. Developmental Cell, 20, 142-143.
Elgendy, M., Sheridan, C., Brumatti, G. and Martin, S.J. (2011) Oncogenic Ras-Induced Expression of Noxa and Beclin-1 Promotes Autophagic Cell Death and Limits Clonogenic Survival. Molecular Cell, 42(1), 23-25.
Afonina, I.S., Tynan, G.A., Logue, S.E., Cullen, S.P., Bots, M., Lüthi, A.U., Reeves, E.P., McElvaney, N.G., Medema, J.P., Lavelle, E.C. and Martin, S.J. (2011) Granzyme B-dependent proteolysis acts as a switch to enhance the proinflammatory activity of IL-1α. Molecular Cell, 44(2), 265-78.
Cullen, S.P., Henry, C.M. and Martin S.J. (2011) Staying alive : defensive strategies in the BCL-2 family playbook. Molecular Cell, 44(4), 509-10.
Hollville, E. and Martin S.J. (2012) Greasing the Path to BAX/BAK Activation. Cell, 148
Laboratory Members 2012 Dr. Sean Cullen, Post-doc Dr. Mathilde Brunet, Post-doc Dr. Emilie Hollville, Post-Doc Dr. Antonino Glaviano, Post-Doc Inna Afonina, PhD student Conor Henry, PhD student Conor Kearney, PhD student Richard Carroll, PhD student Danielle Clancy, PhD student |
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Laboratory Members 2010 (Left to Right) |
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Martin Lab Cell Death Workshop 2011
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Lab Retreat 2008 (Left to Right) |
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