Cameron Bracken

APrf Cameron Bracken

Enterprise Fellow

Centre for Cancer Biology

College of Health

I head the Gene Regulatory Networks Laboratory at the Centre for Cancer biology, an alliance between the University of South Australia and SA Pathology. My laboratory focuses on the role of non-coding RNAs (RNAs that do not instruct protein production) as regulators of the gene expression networks that drive and control cancer progression. This includes microRNAs, which act as genetic “off-switches” of protein-coding genes, and long non-coding RNAs which utilize a range of mechanisms to both positively and negatively regulate gene expression. Our research looks at how and why specific genes are selected for regulation, how these regulated genes interact to control biological processes such as cancer, and explores the potential for these non-coding RNAs to themselves serve as future therapeutics. My group uses a broad range of molecular assays and bioinformatic analyses to interrogate the complex regulatory systems that are employed by cells and that are hijacked by cancer.
I completed my Bachelor’s degree with Honours in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the University of Adelaide where I studied hypoxically-regulated transcription factors. I then moved to the University of Dundee, UK (2005-2008), joining the laboratory of Prof Neil Perkins where I worked on the co-regulation of splicing and transcription. Upon returning to Australia in 2008, I took a post-doctoral position with Prof Greg Goodall working on microRNAs, from which I established my own laboratory at the CCB in 2016. As an early career researcher, I received fellowships from the National Breast Cancer Foundation (2009-2011) and the Florey Foundation (2012-2014). I currently hold a Future Fellowship from the Australian Research Council (2020-2024) and a UniSA Enterprise Fellowship (2023-2027).

Year Citation
2025 Orang, A., Warnock, N. I., Migault, M., Dredge, B. K., Bert, A. G., Bracken, J. M., . . . Bracken, C. P. (2025). Chasing non-existent "microRNAs" in cancer. Oncogenesis, 14(1, article no. 10), 10-1-10-9.
DOI Scopus4 WoS4 Europe PMC4
2025 Toubia, J., Kusay, Y., Maqsood, M., Warnock, N. I., Lawrence, D. M., Bracken, C. P., . . . Schreiber, A. W. (2025). TRanscriptome ANalysis of StratifiEd CohorTs (TRANSECT) enables automated assessment of global gene regulation linked to disparate expression in user defined genes and gene sets. NAR Genomics and Bioinformatics, 7(2), lqaf041-1-lqaf041-13.
DOI
2025 Nazki, F. H., & Bracken, C. P. (2025). Regulation and dysregulation of microRNA - transcription factor axes in differentiation and neuroblastoma. Cellular And Molecular Life Sciences, 82(1, article no. 304), 1-16.
DOI
2025 Kachooei, S. A., Bracken, J. M., Pillman, K. A., Gregory, P. A., & Bracken, C. P. (2025). Half of annotated human microRNAs are expressed at levels of questionable biological significance. Iscience, 28(9), 14 pages.
DOI
2024 Neumann, D. P., Phillips, C. A., Lumb, R., Palethorpe, H. M., Ramani, Y., Hollier, B. G., . . . Gregory, P. A. (2024). Quaking isoforms cooperate to promote the mesenchymal phenotype. Molecular biology of the cell, 35(2), ar17-1-ar17-12.
DOI Scopus3 WoS2 Europe PMC2
2024 Neumann, D. P., Pillman, K. A., Dredge, B. K., Bert, A. G., Phillips, C. A., Lumb, R., . . . Gregory, P. A. (2024). The landscape of alternative polyadenylation during EMT and its regulation by the RNA-binding protein Quaking. RNA Biology, 21(1), 1-11.
DOI Scopus8 WoS7 Europe PMC24
2024 Bracken, C. P., Goodall, G. J., & Gregory, P. A. (2024). RNA regulatory mechanisms controlling TGF-β signaling and EMT in cancer. Seminars in Cancer Biology, 102-103, 4-16.
DOI Scopus20 WoS21 Europe PMC19
2024 Bracken, C. P., Goodall, G. J., & Gregory, P. A. (2024). Erratum to “RNA regulatory mechanisms controlling TGF-β signaling and EMT in cancer” [Semin. Cancer Biol. 102–103 (2024) 4–16, (S1044579X24000439), (10.1016/j.semcancer.2024.06.001)]. Seminars in Cancer Biology, 106-107, 13-14.
DOI Scopus1 Europe PMC2
2023 Bracken, C. P. (2023). "Crowd-control" by RNA: a pervasive theme in biology. RNA (New York, N.Y.), 29(7), 885-888.
DOI Scopus6 WoS5 Europe PMC7
2023 Sapkota, S., Pillman, K. A., Dredge, B. K., Liu, D., Bracken, J. M., Kachooei, S. A., . . . Goodall, G. J. (2023). On the rules of engagement for microRNAs targeting protein coding regions. Nucleic Acids Research, 51(18), 9938-9951.
DOI Scopus12 WoS12 Europe PMC12
2023 Orang, A., Dredge, B. K., Liu, C. Y., Bracken, J. M., Chen, C. -H., Sourdin, L., . . . Bracken, C. P. (2023). Basonuclin-2 regulates extracellular matrix production and degradation. Life Science Alliance, 6(10), e202301984-1-e202301984-17.
DOI Scopus3 WoS3 Europe PMC8
2022 Bracken, C. P., & Goodall, G. J. (2022). The many regulators of epithelial−mesenchymal transition. Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, 23(2), 89-90.
DOI Scopus58 WoS55 Europe PMC49
2022 Migault, M., Sapkota, S., & Bracken, C. P. (2022). Transcriptional and post-transcriptional control of epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity: why so many regulators?. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 79(3), 182.
DOI Scopus32 WoS33 Europe PMC27
2021 Pham, V. V. H., Liu, L., Bracken, C., Goodall, G., Li, J., & Le, T. D. (2021). Computational methods for cancer driver discovery: A survey. Theranostics, 11(11), 5553-5568.
DOI Scopus22 WoS21 Europe PMC13
2021 Pham, V. V. H., Liu, L., Bracken, C. P., Nguyen, T., Goodall, G. J., Li, J., & Le, T. D. (2021). pDriver: a novel method for unravelling personalized coding and miRNA cancer drivers. Bioinformatics, 37(19), 3285-3292.
DOI Scopus13 WoS13 Europe PMC10
2021 Prompsy, P. B., Toubia, J., Gearing, L. J., Knight, R. L., Forster, S. C., Bracken, C. P., & Gantier, M. P. (2021). Making use of transcription factor enrichment to identify functional microRNA-regulons. Computational and Structural Biotechnology Journal, 19, 4896-4903.
DOI Scopus4 WoS4 Europe PMC4
2021 Wajahat, M., Bracken, C. P., & Orang, A. (2021). Emerging functions for snornas and snorna‐derived fragments. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 22(19), 10193-1-10193-19.
DOI Scopus108 WoS101 Europe PMC90
2020 Saunders, K., Bert, A. G., Dredge, B. K., Toubia, J., Gregory, P. A., Pillman, K. A., . . . Bracken, C. P. (2020). Insufficiently complex unique-molecular identifiers (UMIs) distort small RNA sequencing. Scientific Reports, 10(1), 1-9.
DOI Scopus13 WoS11 Europe PMC9
2020 Pham, V. V. H., Liu, L., Bracken, C. P., Goodall, G. J., Li, J., & Le, T. D. (2020). DriverGroup: a novel method for identifying driver gene groups. Bioinformatics, 36(Supplement_2), i583-i591.
DOI Scopus6 WoS7 Europe PMC4
2019 Pillman, K. A., Scheer, K. G., Hackett-Jones, E., Saunders, K., Bert, A. G., Toubia, J., . . . Bracken, C. P. (2019). Extensive transcriptional responses are co-ordinated by microRNAs as revealed by Exon-Intron Split Analysis (EISA). Nucleic Acids Research, 47(16), 14 pages.
DOI Scopus8 WoS7 Europe PMC9
2019 Pham, V. V. H., Liu, L., Bracken, C. P., Goodall, G. J., Long, Q., Li, J., & Le, T. D. (2019). CBNA: a control theory based method for identifying coding and non-coding cancer drivers. PLoS computational biology, 15(12), e1007538.
DOI Scopus29 WoS30 Europe PMC19
2019 Pillman, K. A., Goodall, G. J., Bracken, C. P., & Gantier, M. P. (2019). miRNA length variation during macrophage stimulation confounds the interpretation of results: implications for miRNA quantification by RT-qPCR. RNA, 25(2), 232-238.
DOI Scopus16 WoS16 Europe PMC17
2018 Nejad, C., Pillman, K., Siddle, K., Pépin, G., Anko, M., McCoy, C., . . . Gantier, M. (2018). miR-222 isoforms are differentially regulated by type-I interferon. RNA, 24(3), 332-341.
DOI Scopus30 WoS28 Europe PMC30
2018 Narayan, N., Bracken, C., & Ekert, P. (2018). MicroRNA-155 expression and function in AML: An evolving paradigm. Experimental Hematology, 62, 1-6.
DOI Scopus32 WoS28 Europe PMC28
2018 Pillman, K. A., Phillips, C. A., Roslan, S., Toubia, J., Dredge, B. K., Bert, A. G., . . . Gregory, P. A. (2018). miR-200/375 control epithelial plasticity-associated alternative splicing by repressing the RNA-binding protein Quaking. EMBO Journal, 37(13), 20 pages.
DOI Scopus90 WoS89 Europe PMC79
2018 Cursons, J., Pillman, K. A., Scheer, K. G., Gregory, P. A., Foroutan, M., Hediyeh-Zadeh, S., . . . Davis, M. J. (2018). Combinatorial targeting by MicroRNAs co-ordinates post-transcriptional control of EMT. Cell Systems, 7(1), 77-91.
DOI Scopus75 WoS70 Europe PMC75
2017 Siira, S., Shearwood, A., Bracken, C., Rackham, O., & Filipovska, A. (2017). Defects in RNA metabolism in mitochondrial disease. International Journal of Biochemistry and Cell Biology, 85, 106-113.
DOI Scopus7 WoS7 Europe PMC7
2017 Yu, F., Pillman, K., Neilsen, C., Toubia, J., Lawrence, D., Tsykin, A., . . . Bracken, C. (2017). Naturally existing isoforms of miR-222 have distinct functions. Nucleic Acids Research, 45(19), 11371-11385.
DOI Scopus63 WoS59 Europe PMC59
2016 Bracken, C., Scott, H., & Goodall, G. (2016). A network-biology perspective of microRNA function and dysfunction in cancer. Nature Reviews Genetics, 17(12), 719-732.
DOI Scopus606 WoS577 Europe PMC496
2015 Yu, F., Bracken, C., Pillman, K., Lawrence, D., Goodall, G., Callen, D., & Neilsen, P. (2015). p53 represses the oncogenic Sno-MiR-28 derived from a SnoRNA. PLoS One, 10(6), e0129190-1-e0129190-20.
DOI Scopus64 WoS60 Europe PMC54
2015 Bracken, C., Khew-Goodall, Y., & Goodall, G. (2015). Network-based approaches to understand the roles of miR-200 and other micrornas in cancer. Cancer Research, 75(13), 2594-2599.
DOI Scopus51 WoS50 Europe PMC47
2015 Thomson, D., Pillman, K., Anderson, M., Lawrence, D., Toubia, J., Goodall, G., & Bracken, C. (2015). Assessing the gene regulatory properties of Argonaute-bound small RNAs of diverse genomic origin. Nucleic Acids Research, 43(1), 470-481.
DOI Scopus37 WoS36 Europe PMC38
2015 Cursons, J., Leuchowius, K., Waltham, M., Tomaskovic-Crook, E., Foroutan, M., Bracken, C., . . . Thompson, E. (2015). Stimulus-dependent differences in signalling regulate epithelial-mesenchymal plasticity and change the effects of drugs in breast cancer cell lines. Cell Communication and Signaling, 13(1), 26-1-26-21.
DOI Scopus48 WoS46 Europe PMC45
2014 Salmanidis, M., Pillman, K., Goodall, G., & Bracken, C. (2014). Direct transcriptional regulation by nuclear microRNAs. The International Journal of Biochemistry & Cell Biology, 54, 304-311.
DOI Scopus69 WoS59 Europe PMC60
2014 Li, X., Roslan, S., Johnstone, C., Wright, J., Bracken, C., Anderson, M., . . . Khew-Goodall, Y. (2014). MiR-200 can repress breast cancer metastasis through ZEB1-independent but moesin-dependent pathways. Oncogene, 33(31), 4077-4088.
DOI Scopus109 WoS103 Europe PMC102
2014 Bracken, C. P., Li, X., Wright, J. A., Lawrence, D., Pillman, K. A., Salmanidis, M., . . . Goodall, G. (2014). Genome-wide identification of miR-200 targets reveals a regulatory network controlling cell invasion. The EMBO Journal, 33(18), 1979-2134.
DOI Scopus124 WoS121 Europe PMC115
2013 Thomson, D., Bracken, C., Szubert, J., & Goodall, G. (2013). On measuring miRNAs after transient transfection of mimics or antisense inhibitors. PLoS One, 8(1), 1-10.
DOI Scopus105 WoS103 Europe PMC99
2013 Neilsen, P., Noll, J., Mattiske, S., Bracken, C., Gregory, P., Schulz, R., . . . Callen, D. (2013). Mutant p53 drives invasion in breast tumors through up-regulation of miR-155. Oncogene, 32(24), 2992-3000.
DOI Scopus154 WoS143 Europe PMC137
2012 Neilsen, C., Goodall, G., & Bracken, C. (2012). IsomiRs - the overlooked repertoire in the dynamic microRNAome. Trends in Genetics, 28(11), 544-549.
DOI Scopus405 WoS381 Europe PMC365
2011 Thomson, D., Bracken, C., & Goodall, G. (2011). Experimental strategies for microRNA target identification. Nucleic Acids Research, 39(16), 6845-6853.
DOI Scopus482 WoS453 Europe PMC418
2011 Bracken, C., Szubert, J., Mercer, T., Dinger, M., Thomson, D., Mattick, J., . . . Goodall, G. (2011). Global analysis of the mammalian RNA degradome reveals widespread miRNA-dependent and miRNA-independent endonucleolytic cleavage. Nucleic Acids Research, 39(13), 5658-5668.
DOI Scopus71 WoS68 Europe PMC71
2011 Gregory, P., Bracken, C., Smith, E., Bert, A., Wright, J., Roslan, S., . . . Goodall, G. (2011). An autocrine TGF-β/ZEB/miR-200 signaling network regulates establishment and maintenance of epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Molecular Biology of the Cell, 22(10), 1686-1698.
DOI Scopus510 WoS478 Europe PMC464
2011 Mercer, T., Neph, S., Dinger, M., Crawford, J., Smith, M., Shearwood, A., . . . Mattick, J. (2011). The human mitochondrial transcriptome. Cell, 146(4), 645-658.
DOI Scopus721 WoS680 Europe PMC659
2010 Mercer, T., Dinger, M., Bracken, C., Kolle, G., Szubert, J., Korbie, D., . . . Mattick, J. (2010). Regulated post-transcriptional RNA cleavage diversifies the eukaryotic transcriptome. Genome Research, 20(12), 1639-1650.
DOI Scopus77 WoS66 Europe PMC73
2010 Tam, K., Russell, D., Peet, D., Bracken, C., Rodgers, R., Thompson, J., & Kind, K. (2010). Hormonally regulated follicle differentiation and luteinization in the mouse is associated with hypoxia inducible factor activity. Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, 327(1-2), 47-55.
DOI Scopus44 WoS42 Europe PMC36
2009 Bracken, C., Gregory, P., Khew-Goodall, Y., & Goodall, G. (2009). The role of microRNAs in metastasis and epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 66(10), 1682-1699.
DOI Scopus107 WoS96 Europe PMC90
2008 Gregory, P., Bracken, C., Bert, A., & Goodall, G. (2008). MicroRNAs as regulators of epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Cell Cycle, 7(20), 3112-3117.
DOI Scopus449 WoS413 Europe PMC380
2008 Bracken, C., Gregory, P., Kolesnikoff, N., Bert, A., Wang, J., Shannon, M., & Goodall, G. (2008). A double-negative feedback loop between ZEB1-SIP1 and the microRNA-200 family regulates epithelial-mesenchymal transition. Cancer Research, 68(19), 7846-7854.
DOI Scopus959 WoS908 Europe PMC856
2008 Bracken, C., Wall, S., Barre, B., Panov, K., Ajuh, P., & Perkins, N. (2008). Regulation of cyclin D1 RNA stability by SNIP1. Cancer Research, 68(18), 7621-7628.
DOI Scopus83 Europe PMC79
2007 Roche, K. C., Rocha, S., Bracken, C. P., & Perkins, N. D. (2007). Regulation of ATR-dependent pathways by the FHA domain containing protein SNIP1. Oncogene, 26(31), 4523-4530.
DOI Scopus16 Europe PMC16
2006 Fujii, M., Lyakh, L. A., Bracken, C. P., Fukuoka, J., Hayakawa, M., Tsukiyama, T., . . . Roberts, A. B. (2006). SNIP1 Is a Candidate Modifier of the Transcriptional Activity of c-Myc on E Box-Dependent Target Genes. Molecular Cell, 24(5), 771-783.
DOI Scopus56 Europe PMC54
2006 Bracken, C., Fedele, A., Karttunen, S., Balrak, W., Lisy, K., Whitelaw, M., & Peet, D. (2006). Cell-specific regulation of hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1α and HIF-2α stabilization and transactivation in a graded oxygen environment. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 281(32), 22575-22585.
DOI Scopus191 WoS188 Europe PMC171
2005 Bracken, C., Whitelaw, M., & Peet, D. (2005). Activity of hypoxia-inducible factor 2α is regulated by association with the NF-κB essential modulator. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 280(14), 14240-14251.
DOI Scopus62 WoS60 Europe PMC55
2003 Bracken, C., Whitelaw, M., & Peet, D. (2003). The hypoxia-inducible factors: key transcriptional regulators of hypoxic responses. Cellular and Molecular Life Sciences, 60(7), 1376-1393.
DOI Scopus224 WoS206 Europe PMC186

  • Transcriptional regulation by microRNAs, ARC - Discovery Projects, 08/07/2019 - 07/07/2022

  • Using miR-200 to find new therapeutic targets for neuroblastoma, NHMRC - Project Grant, 01/01/2017 - 31/12/2019

Courses I teach

  • MEDI 3014 Current Topics in Medical Research (2025)
  • MEDI 3014 Current Topics in Medical Research (2024)

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2025 Co-Supervisor Targeting the functional consequences on aneuploidies in glioblastoma Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Ming Phong
2024 Co-Supervisor Long non-coding RNAs as regulators of neuronal differentiation and neuroblastoma Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Regina Belen Peralta Callanta
2024 Co-Supervisor Long non-coding RNAs as regulators of neuronal differentiation and neuroblastoma Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Regina Belen Peralta Callanta
2023 Principal Supervisor 110943 - Re-examining fundamental assumptions about microRNAs Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Fakhira Nazki
2022 Principal Supervisor Targeting oncogenic signalling with custom RNA drugs Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Saba Ataei Kachooei
2022 Principal Supervisor Transforming Growth Factor- (TGF-) responsive regulators of Epithelial-mesenchymal transition Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Chi Yau Liu
2022 Co-Supervisor Understanding how the epigenetic field effect exerted by cancers upon their microenvironment promotes tumour progression Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Edward Jack Buckley
2022 Co-Supervisor Lipid nanoparticles for delivery of nucleic acid vaccines Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Nikita Parekh
2022 Co-Supervisor A novel protein ZCCHC24 as a regulator of breast cancer cell plasticity and metastasis Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Shruti Tushar Deshpande
2022 Co-Supervisor Alternative splicing networks and their impact on the development of aggressive prostate cancer Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Yesha Ramani

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2015 - 2018 Co-Supervisor Identification and Functional Characterization of Long Noncoding RNAs Involved in Endosperm Development of Arabidopsis thaliana Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Quang Trung Do
2014 - 2016 Co-Supervisor Micro-RNAs in Cancer: Novel Origins and Sequence Variation Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Feng Yu
2010 - 2015 Co-Supervisor Insight into the function of microRNAs and other small RNAs of diverse origin Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr Daniel Wyville Thomson

Date Role Research Topic Location Program Supervision Type Student Load Student Name
2016 - 2022 Co-Supervisor Nuclear microRNAs Centre for Cancer Biology University of South Australia Doctorate Part Time Klay Saunders
2015 - 2015 Co-Supervisor Direct Transcriptional Regulation by Nuclear microRNAs Centre for Cancer Biology University of South Australia Honours Full Time Klay Saunders

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