Michael Roy
South Australian Immunogenomics Cancer Institute
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Dr Michael Roy was appointed in late 2024 as a Group Leader, and leads the Molecular & Proximity Discovery (MPD) Laboratory within the Resistance Prevention Program at South Australian immunoGENomics Cancer Institute (SAiGENCI). He brings extensive expertise in structure-guided discovery of inhibitors and modulators of Protein-Protein Interactions (PPIs), including Targeted Protein Degraders/PROTACs, and structurally deciphering the molecular mechanisms of cellular signalling.
Dr Roy completed his PhD in Medical Biology (Medicinal Chemistry) at the University of Melbourne/WEHI, before undertaking further postdoctoral training at the University of Dundee (Scotland) and Chemical Biology Division at WEHI (Australia). Prior to establishing his independent group at SAiGENCI, from 2020-2024 as Project Director, he co-led a significant academic/industry collaboration at WEHI to develop novel Protein Degraders to address targets of critical unmet need in cancer.
His research expertise in medicinal chemistry and structural biology targeting Protein-Protein Interactions (including BCL-2 family proteins, kinases/pseudokinases, ubiquitin E3 ligases and transcriptional regulators), in collaboration with leading experts internationally, has enabled pioneering structure-guided discovery of Inhibitors and Targeted Protein Degraders to address cancer vulnerabilities; including together with the Ciulli lab (Dundee) and Boehringer Ingelheim the development of ACBI1 and ACBI2, potent degraders of SMARCA2/4 helicase subunits of the SWI/SNF (BAF) chromatin remodelling complex, that is dysregulated in ~20% of human cancers.
His work has appeared in high-impact journals including Nature Chemical Biology, Science Signalling, ACS Chemical Biology, Nature Communications, JACS, Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Over his research career, he has secured as Chief Investigator or Project Director more than $12 million in combined competitive grant, industry and philanthropic funding, and his research has directly resulted in 2 patents.
At SAiGENCI, Dr Roy’s group aims to advance cancer research through developing innovative therapeutic approaches (including small molecule Targeted Protein Degraders and Molecular Glues) to better combat resistance and address hitherto ‘undruggable’ nodes in cancer signalling.
The lab integrates a multisciplinary approach, incorporating medicinal chemistry, structural biology, biophysics, cell biology, proteomics, as well as computational design/machine learning; working with local and international collaborators, including the labs of Dr Fuyi Li and Dr Luke Isbel, SAiGENCI, and the Adelaide Drug Discovery Incubator (ADDI).
PhD, MPhil and Hons. degree projects are available in the team for motivated individuals with a passion to discover and build the medicines of tomorrow.
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Education
Date Institution name Country Title University of Melbourne Australia PhD
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Journals
Year Citation 2024 Miller, M. S., Cowan, A. D., Brouwer, J. M., Smyth, S. T., Peng, L., Wardak, A. Z., . . . Czabotar, P. E. (2024). Sequence differences between BAX and BAK core domains manifest as differences in their interactions with lipids. FEBS Journal, 291(11), 2335-2353.
Scopus5 Europe PMC32023 Roy, M. J., Surudoi, M. G., Kropp, A., Hou, J., Dai, W., Hardy, J. M., . . . Lucet, I. S. (2023). Structural mapping of PEAK pseudokinase interactions identifies 14-3-3 as a molecular switch for PEAK3 signaling. Nature Communications, 14(1), 3542.
Scopus7 Europe PMC82022 Kofink, C., Trainor, N., Mair, B., Wöhrle, S., Wurm, M., Mischerikow, N., . . . Farnaby, W. (2022). A selective and orally bioavailable VHL-recruiting PROTAC achieves SMARCA2 degradation in vivo. Nature Communications, 13(1), 5969.
Scopus123 Europe PMC772022 Hou, J., Nguyen, E. V., Surudoi, M., Roy, M. J., Patel, O., Lucet, I. S., . . . Daly, R. J. (2022). Distinct PEAK3 interactors and outputs expand the signaling potential of the PEAK pseudokinase family. Science Signaling, 15(722), eabj3554.
Scopus9 Europe PMC62021 Patel, O., Roy, M. J., Kropp, A., Hardy, J. M., Dai, W., & Lucet, I. S. (2021). Structural basis for small molecule targeting of Doublecortin Like Kinase 1 with DCLK1-IN-1. Communications Biology, 4(1), 1105.
Scopus17 Europe PMC202021 Liang, L. Y., Roy, M., Horne, C. R., Sandow, J. J., Surudoi, M., Dagley, L. F., . . . Lucet, I. S. (2021). The intracellular domains of the EphB6 and EphA10 receptor tyrosine pseudokinases function as dynamic signalling hubs. Biochemical Journal, 478(17), 3351-3371.
Scopus8 Europe PMC92021 Mao, R., Xi, S., Shah, S., Roy, M. J., John, A., Lingford, J. P., . . . Goddard-Borger, E. D. (2021). Synthesis of C-Mannosylated Glycopeptides Enabled by Ni-Catalyzed Photoreductive Cross-Coupling Reactions. Journal of the American Chemical Society, 143(32), 12699-12707.
Scopus58 Europe PMC192021 Roy, M. J., Vom, A., Okamoto, T., Smith, B. J., Birkinshaw, R. W., Yang, H., . . . Lessene, G. (2021). Structure-Guided Development of Potent Benzoylurea Inhibitors of BCL-X<inf>L</inf>and BCL-2. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 64(9), 5447-5469.
Scopus9 Europe PMC42020 Cowan, A. D., Smith, N. A., Sandow, J. J., Kapp, E. A., Rustam, Y. H., Murphy, J. M., . . . Czabotar, P. E. (2020). BAK core dimers bind lipids and can be bridged by them. Nature Structural and Molecular Biology, 27(11), 1024-1031.
Scopus52 Europe PMC412020 Patel, O., Roy, M. J., Murphy, J. M., & Lucet, I. S. (2020). The PEAK family of pseudokinases, their role in cell signalling and cancer. FEBS Journal, 287(19), 4183-4197.
Scopus20 Europe PMC202019 Farnaby, W., Koegl, M., Roy, M. J., Whitworth, C., Diers, E., Trainor, N., . . . Ciulli, A. (2019). Publisher Correction: BAF complex vulnerabilities in cancer demonstrated via structure-based PROTAC design (Nature Chemical Biology, (2019), 15, 7, (672-680), 10.1038/s41589-019-0294-6). Nature Chemical Biology, 15(8), 846.
Scopus10 Europe PMC52019 Farnaby, W., Koegl, M., Roy, M. J., Whitworth, C., Diers, E., Trainor, N., . . . Ciulli, A. (2019). BAF complex vulnerabilities in cancer demonstrated via structure-based PROTAC design. Nature Chemical Biology, 15(7), 672-680.
Scopus392 Europe PMC2622019 Roy, M. J., Winkler, S., Hughes, S. J., Whitworth, C., Galant, M., Farnaby, W., . . . Ciulli, A. (2019). SPR-Measured Dissociation Kinetics of PROTAC Ternary Complexes Influence Target Degradation Rate. ACS Chemical Biology, 14(3), 361-368.
Scopus237 Europe PMC1512014 Roy, M. J., Vom, A., Czabotar, P. E., & Lessene, G. (2014). Cell death and the mitochondria: Therapeutic targeting of the BCL-2 family-driven pathway. British Journal of Pharmacology, 171(8), 1973-1987.
Scopus104 Europe PMC602014 Brady, R. M., Vom, A., Roy, M. J., Toovey, N., Smith, B. J., Moss, R. M., . . . Lessene, G. (2014). De-novo designed library of benzoylureas as inhibitors of BCL-X <inf>L</inf>: Synthesis, structural and biochemical characterization. Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, 57(4), 1323-1343.
Scopus35 Europe PMC14 -
Book Chapters
Year Citation 2022 Patel, O., Surudoi, M., Dai, W., Hardy, J. M., Roy, M. J., & Lucet, I. S. (2022). Production and purification of the PEAK pseudokinases for structural and functional studies. In Methods in Enzymology (Vol. 667, pp. 1-35). Elsevier.
DOI Scopus2 Europe PMC2 -
Preprint
Year Citation 2025 Liu, J., Roy, M., Isbel, L., & Li, F. (2025). Accurate PROTAC targeted degradation prediction with DegradeMaster.
DOI2024 Ma, N., Bhattacharya, S., Muk, S., Jandova, Z., Schmalhorst, P. S., Ghosh, S., . . . Vaidehi, N. (2024). Frustration in the Protein-Protein interface Plays a Central Role in the Cooperativity of PROTAC Ternary Complexes.
DOI2022 Lucet, I., Roy, M., Surudoi, M., Kropp, A., Hou, J., Dai, W., . . . Patel, O. (2022). When two’s a crowd - Structural mapping of PEAK pseudokinase interactions identifies 14 3 3 as a molecular switch for PEAK3/Crk signaling..
DOI2021 Patel, O., Roy, M., Kropp, A., Dai, W., & Lucet, I. (2021). Structural basis for small molecule targeting of Doublecortin Like Kinase 1 DCLK1.
DOI2018 Roy, M., Winkler, S., Hughes, S., Whitworth, C., Galant, M., Farnaby, W., . . . Ciulli, A. (2018). SPR-measured dissociation kinetics of PROTAC ternary complexes influence target degradation rate.
DOI
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