Nirmal Robinson

Dr Nirmal Robinson

Senior Research Fellow: Cellular-Stress and Immune Response

Centre for Cancer Biology

College of Health

My research investigates how cellular stress responses and metabolic pathways intersect with innate immunity to influence cancer progression and therapy resistance. We focus on two major cancer types: glioblastoma (GBM) and myeloid malignancies. In GBM, we explore how stress-adaptive mechanisms and metabolic plasticity support tumour invasiveness and immune evasion, identifying novel therapeutic targets. 

In myeloid malignancies, including those driven by clonal hematopoiesis, we examine how inflammatory pathways and nutrient-sensing mechanisms shape the function of innate immune cells, particularly macrophages. Through integrated molecular, cellular, and translational approaches, our goal is to uncover vulnerabilities that can be harnessed to improve patient outcomes.

Date Position Institution name
2025 - ongoing Scientific Lead University of Adelaide
2018 - ongoing Senior Research Fellow / Lab Head Centre for Cancer Biology
2011 - 2017 Research Group Leader Cologne Excellence Cluster on Cellular Stress Responses in Aging Associated Diseases

Year Citation
2025 Hos, N. J., Fischer, J., Murthy, A. M. V., Hejazi, Z., Krönke, M., Hos, D., & Robinson, N. (2025). P62 inhibits IL-1β release during Salmonella Typhimurium infection of macrophages. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 15(1495567), 1-8.
DOI
2025 Panda, S. K., Sanchez-Pajares, I. R., Rehman, A., Del Vecchio, V., Mele, L., Chipurupalli, S., . . . Desiderio, V. (2025). ER stress and/or ER-phagy in drug resistance? Three coincidences are proof.. Cell Commun Signal, 23(1), 223.
DOI
2025 Fischer, J., Hos, N. J., Tritschler, S., Schmitz-Peters, J., Ganesan, R., Calabrese, C., . . . Robinson, N. (2025). Age-Dependent Loss of Sirtuin1 (Sirt1) Correlates with Reduced Autophagy in Type 2 Diabetic Patients (T2DM). Diabetology, 6(6), 45.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1
2025 Fischer, J., Rusyn, L., Krus, F., Lobastova, L., Herb, M., Gluschko, A., . . . Seeger-Nukpezah, T. (2025). Macrophages downregulate NEDD9 to counteract S. Typhimurium- mediated FAK-AKT activation and lysosome inhibition.. Cell Death Dis, 16(1), 445.
DOI
2025 Fischer, J., Rusyn, L., Krus, F., Lobastova, L., Herb, M., Gluschko, A., . . . Seeger-Nukpezah, T. (2025). Correction: Macrophages downregulate NEDD9 to counteract S. Typhimurium- mediated FAK-AKT activation and lysosome inhibition.. Cell death & disease, 16(1), 658.
DOI
2025 Shah, S. S., Manning, J. A., Lim, Y., Sinha, D., Murthy, A. M. V., Ganesan, R., . . . Kumar, S. (2025). NEDD4L-mediated Gasdermin D and E ubiquitination regulates cell death and tissue injury. Cell Death and Differentiation, online, 1-18.
DOI
2025 Herb, M., Gluschko, A., Ganesan, R., & Robinson, N. (2025). Editorial: Exploring macrophage metabolic adaptations to bacterial infection: pathways and immune responses. Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology, 15, 1730767.
DOI
2025 Davies, L. T., Ganesen, R., Toubia, J., Hong, S. -H., Kumar, K. C. S., Oehler, M. K., . . . Pitman, M. R. (2025). Plasma-activated media selectively induces apoptotic death via an orchestrated oxidative stress pathway in high-grade serous ovarian cancer cells. Molecular Oncology, 19(4), 1170-1187.
DOI Scopus1 WoS1
2025 Robinson, N., Polara, R., & Thomas, D. (2025). IRE1α: a gatekeeper of chemotherapy-induced immunogenicity in triple-negative breast cancer. Signal Transduction and Targeted Therapy, 10(1, article no 52), 52-1-52-3.
DOI Scopus2 WoS1 Europe PMC2
2024 Hong, L. E., Wechalekar, M. D., Kutyna, M. M., Small, A., Lim, K., Thompson-Peach, C. A., . . . Hiwase, D. K. (2024). IDH-Mutant Myeloid Neoplasms are Associated with Seronegative Rheumatoid Arthritis and Innate Immune Activation. Blood, 143(18), 1873-1877.
DOI Scopus12 WoS12 Europe PMC11
2024 Del Vecchio, V., Rehman, A., Panda, S. K., Torsiello, M., Marigliano, M., Nicoletti, M. M., . . . Papaccio, F. (2024). Mitochondrial transfer from Adipose stem cells to breast cancer cells drives multi-drug resistance. Journal of Experimental and Clinical Cancer Research, 43(1, article no. 166), 166-1-166-17.
DOI Scopus34 WoS30 Europe PMC28
2024 Moore, E., Robson, A. J., Crisp, A. R., Cockshell, M. P., Burzava, A. L. S., Ganesan, R., . . . Bonder, C. S. (2024). Study of the Structure of Hyperbranched Polyglycerol Coatings and their Anti-Biofouling and Anti-Thrombotic Applications. Advanced Healthcare Materials, 13(26), 2401545-1-2401545-23.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC1
2024 Polara, R., Ganesan, R., Pitson, S. M., & Robinson, N. (2024). Cell autonomous functions of CD47 in regulating cellular plasticity and metabolic plasticity. Cell Death Differ, 31(10), 1255-1266.
DOI Scopus23 WoS25 Europe PMC13
2024 Panda, S. K., Robinson, N., & Desiderio, V. (2024). Decoding secret role of mesenchymal stem cells in regulating cancer stem cells and drug resistance. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Reviews on Cancer, 1879(6), 1-17.
DOI Scopus5 WoS3 Europe PMC3
2024 Youssef, S. H., Ganesan, R., Amirmostofian, M., Kim, S., Polara, R., Afinjuomo, F., . . . Garg, S. (2024). Printing a Cure: A Tailored Solution for Localized Drug Delivery in Liver Cancer Treatment.. International journal of pharmaceutics, 651(123790), 123790.
DOI Scopus7 WoS8 Europe PMC6
2024 Calabrese, C., Nolte, H., Pitman, M. R., Ganesan, R., Lampe, P., Laboy, R., . . . Robinson, N. (2024). Mitochondrial translocation of TFEB regulates complex I and inflammation.. EMBO Reports, 25(2), 704-724.
DOI Scopus9 WoS9 Europe PMC10
2023 Thomas, D., Wu, M., Nakauchi, Y., Zheng, M., Thompson-Peach, C. A., Lim, K., . . . Majeti, R. (2023). Dysregulated lipid synthesis by oncogenic IDH1 mutation is a targetable synthetic lethal vulnerability. Cancer Discovery, 13(2), 496-515.
DOI Scopus47 WoS43 Europe PMC46
2023 Vitale, I., Pietrocola, F., Guilbaud, E., Aaronson, S. A., Abrams, J. M., Adam, D., . . . Galluzzi, L. (2023). Apoptotic cell death in disease-Current understanding of the NCCD 2023. Cell Death and Differentiation, 30(5), 1097-1154.
DOI Scopus262 WoS249 Europe PMC228
2023 Logesh, R., Prasad, S. R., Chipurupalli, S., Robinson, N., & Mohankumar, S. K. (2023). Natural tyrosinase enzyme inhibitors: A path from melanin to melanoma and its reported pharmacological activities. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Reviews on Cancer, 1878(6), 1-27.
DOI Scopus66 WoS59 Europe PMC26
2023 Saddam Hussain, M., Khetan, R., Clulow, A. J., Ganesan, R., MacMillan, A., Robinson, N., . . . Blencowe, A. (2023). Teaching an Old Dog New Tricks: A Global Approach to Enhancing the Cytotoxicity of Drug-Loaded, Non-responsive Micelles Using Oligoelectrolytes. ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, 16(8), 9736-9748.
DOI Scopus4 WoS4 Europe PMC2
2022 Chipurupalli, S., Ganesan, R., Martini, G., Mele, L., Reggio, A., Esposito, M., . . . Robinson, N. (2022). Cancer cells adapt FAM134B/BiP mediated ER-phagy to survive hypoxic stress. Cell Death and Disease, 13(4), 357-1-357-13.
DOI Scopus46 WoS42 Europe PMC34
2022 Lewis, A. C., Pope, V. S., Tea, M. N., Li, M., Nwosu, G. O., Nguyen, T. M., . . . Pitson, S. M. (2022). Ceramide-induced integrated stress response overcomes Bcl-2 inhibitor resistance in acute myeloid leukemia.. Blood, 139(26), 3737-3751.
DOI Scopus37 WoS35 Europe PMC37
2022 Bassal, M. A., Samaraweera, S. E., Lim, K., Bernard, B. A., Bailey, S., Kaur, S., . . . D'Andrea, R. J. (2022). Germline mutations in mitochondrial complex I reveal genetic and targetable vulnerability in IDH1-mutant acute myeloid leukaemia. Nature Communications, 13(1), 1-12.
DOI Scopus18 WoS19 Europe PMC16
2022 Bassal, M. A., Samaraweera, S. E., Lim, K., Benard, B. A., Bailey, S., Kaur, S., . . . D'Andrea, R. J. (2022). Author Correction: Germline mutations in mitochondrial complex I reveal genetic and targetable vulnerability in IDH1-mutant acute myeloid leukaemia.. Nat Commun, 13(1), 4131.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC1
2021 Chipurupalli, S., Samavedam, U., & Robinson, N. (2021). Crosstalk between ER stress, autophagy and inflammation. Frontiers in Medicine, 8(758311), 1-9.
DOI Scopus140 WoS134 Europe PMC108
2021 Gutierrez, S., Fischer, J., Ganesan, R., Judith, N. H., Cildir, G., Wolke, M., . . . Robinson, N. (2021). Salmonella Typhimurium impairs glycolysismediated acidification of phagosomes to evade macrophage defense. PLoS Pathogens, 17(9), 26 pages.
DOI Scopus25 WoS24 Europe PMC26
2020 Barbieri, A., Robinson, N., Palma, G., Maurea, N., Desiderio, V., & Botti, G. (2020). Can Beta-2-Adrenergic Pathway Be a New Target to Combat SARS-CoV-2 Hyperinflammatory Syndrome?—Lessons Learned From Cancer. Frontiers in Immunology, 11(588724), 6 pages.
DOI Scopus39 WoS35 Europe PMC30
2020 Kew, C., Huang, W., Fischer, J., Ganesan, R., Robinson, N., & Antebi, A. (2020). Evolutionarily conserved regulation of immunity by the splicing factor RNP-6/PUF60. eLife, 9(e57591), 1-23.
DOI Scopus15 WoS12 Europe PMC16
2020 Mele, L., del Vecchio, V., Liccardo, D., Prisco, C., Schwerdtfeger, M., Robinson, N., . . . La Noce, M. (2020). The role of autophagy in resistance to targeted therapies. Cancer Treatment Reviews, 88(102043), 1-14.
DOI Scopus142 WoS137 Europe PMC117
2020 Chipurupalli, S., Ganesan, R., Dhanabal, S. P., Kumar, M. S., & Robinson, N. (2020). Pharmacological STING Activation Is a Potential Alternative to Overcome Drug-Resistance in Melanoma. Frontiers in Oncology, 10(758), 9 pages.
DOI Scopus27 WoS29 Europe PMC29
2020 Dorstyn, L., Tvorogov, D., Malek, S., & Robinson, N. (2020). The 9th Barossa Meeting: Cell Signalling in Cancer Medicine. Cell Death and Disease, 11(3), 3 pages.
DOI
2020 Murthy, A. M. V., Robinson, N., & Kumar, S. (2020). Crosstalk between cGAS-STING signaling and cell death. Cell Death and Differentiation, 27(11), 2989-3003.
DOI Scopus136 WoS132 Europe PMC125
2020 Hos, N. J., Fischer, J., Hos, D., Hejazi, Z., Calabrese, C., Ganesan, R., . . . Robinson, N. (2020). TRIM21 Is Targeted for Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy during Salmonella Typhimurium Infection.. J Immunol, 205(9), 2456-2467.
DOI Scopus26 WoS24 Europe PMC19
2019 Chipurupalli, S., Kannan, E., Tergaonkar, V., D'Andrea, R., & Robinson, N. (2019). Hypoxia Induced ER Stress Response as an Adaptive Mechanism in Cancer. International journal of molecular sciences, 20(3), 1-17.
DOI Scopus108 WoS106 Europe PMC101
2019 Robinson, N., Ganesan, R., Hegedus, C., Kovács, K., Kufer, T. A., & Virág, L. (2019). Programmed necrotic cell death of macrophages: focus on pyroptosis, necroptosis, and parthanatos. Redox biology, 26(101239), 1-8.
DOI Scopus305 WoS299 Europe PMC265
2019 Fischer, J., Gutièrrez, S., Ganesan, R., Calabrese, C., Ranjan, R., Cildir, G., . . . Robinson, N. (2019). Leptin signaling impairs macrophage defenses against Salmonella Typhimurium. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 116(33), 16551-16560.
DOI Scopus22 WoS21 Europe PMC23
2019 Cildir, G., Toubia, J., Yip, K. H., Zhou, M., Pant, H., Hissaria, P., . . . Tergaonkar, V. (2019). Genome-wide analyses of chromatin state in human mast cells reveal molecular drivers and mediators of allergic and inflammatory diseases. Immunity, 51(5), 949-965.
DOI Scopus48 WoS49 Europe PMC48
2018 Robinson, N. (2018). Salmonella Typhimurium infection: type I interferons integrate cellular networks to disintegrate macrophages. Cell Stress, 2(2), 37-39.
DOI Scopus5 WoS4 Europe PMC4
2018 Tiku, V., Kew, C., Mehrotra, P., Ganesan, R., Robinson, N., & Antebi, A. (2018). Nucleolar fibrillarin is an evolutionarily conserved regulator of bacterial pathogen resistance. Nature communications, 9(3607), 1-10.
DOI Scopus46 WoS45 Europe PMC53
2017 Robinson, N. (2017). Typhi colonization factor (Tcf) genetically conserved yet functionally diverse. Virulence, 8(8), 1511-1512.
DOI Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC2
2017 Hos, N. J., Ganesan, R., Gutiérrez, S., Hos, D., Klimek, J., Abdullah, Z., . . . Robinson, N. (2017). Type I interferon enhances necroptosis of Salmonella Typhimurium-infected macrophages by impairing antioxidative stress responses. Journal of cell biology, 216(12), 4107-4121.
DOI Scopus56 WoS56 Europe PMC52
2017 Gutiérrez, S., Wolke, M., Plum, G., & Robinson, N. (2017). Isolation of Salmonella typhimurium-containing phagosomes from macrophages. Journal of visualized experiments, 2017(128, article number: e56514), 1-11.
DOI Scopus4 WoS3 Europe PMC3
2017 Ganesan, R., Hos, N. J., Gutierrez, S., Fischer, J., Stepek, J. M., Daglidu, E., . . . Robinson, N. (2017). Salmonella Typhimurium disrupts Sirt1/AMPK checkpoint control of mTOR to impair autophagy. PLoS pathogens, 13(2, e1006227), 1-22.
DOI Scopus122 WoS109 Europe PMC102
2015 Fischer, J., Jung, N., Robinson, N., & Lehmann, C. (2015). Sex differences in immune responses to infectious diseases. Infection, 43(4), 399-403.
DOI Scopus135 WoS121 Europe PMC125
2014 Persa, O. D., Jazmati, N., Robinson, N., Wolke, M., Kremer, K., Schweer, K., . . . Schlaak, M. (2014). A pregnant woman with chronic meningococcaemia from Neisseria meningitidis with lpxL1-mutations. Lancet, 384(9957), 1900.
DOI Scopus8 WoS5 Europe PMC5
2013 Nguyen, T., Robinson, N., Allison, S. E., Coombes, B. K., Sad, S., & Krishnan, L. (2013). IL-10 produced by trophoblast cells inhibits phagosome maturation leading to profound intracellular proliferation of Salmonella enterica Typhimurium. Placenta, 34(9), 765-774.
DOI Scopus24 WoS21 Europe PMC19
2012 Robinson, N., McComb, S., Mulligan, R., Dudani, R., Krishnan, L., & Sad, S. (2012). Type I interferon induces necroptosis in macrophages during infection with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Nature Immunology, 13(10), 954-962.
DOI Scopus369 WoS351 Europe PMC345
2010 Rybniker, J., Nowag, A., Van Gumpel, E., Nissen, N., Robinson, N., Plum, G., & Hartmann, P. (2010). Insights into the function of the WhiB‐like protein of mycobacteriophage TM4: a transcriptional inhibitor of WhiB2. Molecular microbiology, 77(3), 642-657.
DOI Scopus82 WoS76 Europe PMC78
2010 Chattopadhyay, A., Robinson, N., Sandhu, J. K., Finlay, B. B., Sad, S., & Krishnan, L. (2010). Salmonella enterica Serovar Typhimurium-induced placental inflammation and not bacterial burden correlates with pathology and fatal maternal disease. Infection and immunity, 78(5), 2292-2301.
DOI Scopus37 WoS34 Europe PMC29
2009 Albaghdadi, H., Robinson, N., Finlay, B., Krishnan, L., & Sad, S. (2009). Selectively reduced intracellular proliferation of Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium within APCs limits antigen presentation and development of a rapid CD8 T cell response. Journal of immunology, 183(6), 3778-3787.
DOI Scopus37 WoS34 Europe PMC27
2008 Robinson, N., Kolter, T., Wolke, M., Rybniker, J., Hartmann, P., & Plum, G. (2008). Mycobacterial phenolic glycolipid inhibits phagosome maturation and subverts the pro‐inflammatory cytokine response. Traffic, 9(11), 1936-1947.
DOI Scopus39 WoS35 Europe PMC32
2008 Rybniker, J., Plum, G., Robinson, N., Small, P. L., & Hartmann, P. (2008). Identification of three cytotoxic early proteins of mycobacteriophage L5 leading to growth inhibition in Mycobacterium smegmatis. Microbiology, 154(8), 2304-2314.
DOI Scopus27 WoS24 Europe PMC26
2007 Robinson, N., Wolke, M., Ernestus, K., & Plum, G. (2007). A mycobacterial gene involved in synthesis of an outer cell envelope lipid is a key factor in prevention of phagosome maturation. Infection and immunity, 75(2), 581-591.
DOI Scopus26 WoS25 Europe PMC25
2007 Stephen, T. L., Fabri, M., Groneck, L., Röhn, T. A., Hafke, H., Robinson, N., . . . Kalka Moll, W. M. (2007). Transport of Streptococcus pneumoniae capsular polysaccharide in MHC class II tubules. PLoS pathogens, 3(3, article no. 32), 0001-11.
DOI Scopus22 WoS22 Europe PMC19

Year Citation
2024 Kamel, M. M., Robinson, N., Kutyna, M., Lim, K., Thompson-Peach, C., Lane, S. W., . . . Thomas, D. (2024). High Dose Ascorbate Reduces Interleukin-1 Beta Secretion in TET2 Mutant Monocytes and Demonstrates Excellent and in CMML Patients in Combination with Azacitidine. In BLOOD Vol. 144 (pp. 1817-1818). ELSEVIER.
DOI WoS2

Year Citation
2023 Calabrese, C., Nolte, H., Pitman, M., Ganesan, R., Lampe, P., Laboy, R., . . . Robinson, N. (2023). Mitochondrial translocation of TFEB regulates complex I and inflammation.
DOI

Date Role Research Topic Program Degree Type Student Load Student Name
2025 Co-Supervisor Discovery of novel metabolic targets against lDH1-mutant intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Tasnova Tasnim Nova
2025 Principal Supervisor Redox modulation and DNA damage responses induced by Plasma-Activated Media in human lymphoid cells Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Hiu Ying Esther Yip
2025 Principal Supervisor Understanding and targeting metabolic vulnerabilities to treat glioblastoma Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Saumya Bansal
2025 Co-Supervisor Target tumour cell invasion for the development of new therapies for glioblastoma Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Aijia Meng
2025 Co-Supervisor Discovery of novel metabolic targets against lDH1-mutant intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mrs Tasnova Tasnim Nova
2024 Co-Supervisor A humanized monocyte model of TET2 mutated clonal hematopoiesis for noel target discovery Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Maha Kamel
2024 Co-Supervisor Determining the role of pY374PKCd mediated chemoresistance in triple negative breast cancer Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Emily Phipps
2024 Co-Supervisor A humanized monocyte model of TET2 mutated clonal hematopoiesis for noel target discovery Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Miss Maha Kamel
2024 Co-Supervisor Development of new treatments for glioblastoma Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Shervindokht Farhangfar
2023 Co-Supervisor Peroxisome Biology in IDH1 Mutated Cancer Cells and Its potential for Target Therapy Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Mahta Moraghebi
2023 Co-Supervisor 109455 - Examining the impact of environmental stressors and mutant microenvironment on disease development in models of inherited predisposition to haematological malignancies Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Mr An Thanh Dung Nguyen
2023 Co-Supervisor Peroxisome Biology in IDH1 Mutated Cancer Cells and Its potential for Target Therapy Doctor of Philosophy Doctorate Full Time Ms Mahta Moraghebi

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