Nirmal Robinson
Adelaide Medical School
Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences
Eligible to supervise Masters and PhD - email supervisor to discuss availability.
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.
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Appointments
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
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Journals
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, 8 pages.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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), 52-1-52-3.
Scopus2 WoS1 Europe PMC22024 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.
Scopus8 WoS9 Europe PMC72024 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), 166-1-166-17.
Scopus28 WoS26 Europe PMC202024 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.
Scopus2 WoS1 Europe PMC12024 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.
Scopus14 WoS12 Europe PMC102024 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), 17 pages.
Scopus4 WoS3 Europe PMC32024 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.
Scopus5 WoS4 Europe PMC42024 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.
Scopus8 WoS8 Europe PMC72023 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.
Scopus42 WoS41 Europe PMC412023 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.
Scopus239 WoS224 Europe PMC2122023 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.
Scopus58 WoS52 Europe PMC242023 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.
Scopus4 WoS4 Europe PMC22022 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.
Scopus39 WoS37 Europe PMC332022 Chipurupalli, S., Desiderio, V., & Robinson, N. (2022). Analysis of ER-Phagy in Cancer Drug Resistance. Methods in molecular biology (Clifton, N.J.), 2535, 211-220.
Scopus3 Europe PMC22022 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.
Scopus35 WoS31 Europe PMC342022 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.
Scopus17 WoS18 Europe PMC162022 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.
Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC12021 Chipurupalli, S., Samavedam, U., & Robinson, N. (2021). Crosstalk Between ER Stress, Autophagy and Inflammation. Frontiers in Medicine, 8, 9 pages.
Scopus131 WoS122 Europe PMC1022021 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.
Scopus24 WoS22 Europe PMC242020 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, 6 pages.
Scopus39 WoS35 Europe PMC292020 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, 1-23.
Scopus14 WoS12 Europe PMC142020 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, 14 pages.
Scopus139 WoS136 Europe PMC1132020 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, 9 pages.
Scopus27 WoS28 Europe PMC282020 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.
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.
Scopus125 WoS121 Europe PMC1152020 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.
Scopus26 WoS24 Europe PMC192019 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), 17 pages.
Scopus107 WoS105 Europe PMC972019 Robinson, N., Ganesan, R., Hegedűs, C., Kovács, K., Kufer, T. A., & Virág, L. (2019). Programmed necrotic cell death of macrophages: Focus on pyroptosis, necroptosis, and parthanatos. Redox Biology, 26, 8 pages.
Scopus300 WoS293 Europe PMC2482019 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.
Scopus22 WoS21 Europe PMC222019 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.
Scopus48 WoS49 Europe PMC452018 Robinson, N. (2018). Salmonella typhimurium infection: Type I interferons integrate cellular networks to disintegrate macrophages. Cell Stress, 2(2), 37-39.
Scopus5 WoS4 Europe PMC42018 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(1), 10 pages.
Scopus45 WoS44 Europe PMC502017 Robinson, N. (2017). Typhi colonization factor (Tcf) genetically conserved yet functionally diverse. Virulence, 8(8), 1511-1512.
Scopus2 WoS2 Europe PMC22017 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.
Scopus56 WoS56 Europe PMC522017 Gutiérrez, S., Wolke, M., Plum, G., & Robinson, N. (2017). Isolation of Salmonella typhimurium-containing phagosomes from macrophages. Journal of Visualized Experiments, 2017(128), 11 pages.
Scopus4 WoS3 Europe PMC32017 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), 22 pages.
Scopus119 WoS106 Europe PMC972015 Fischer, J., Jung, N., Robinson, N., & Lehmann, C. (2015). Sex differences in immune responses to infectious diseases. Infection, 43(4), 399-403.
Scopus132 WoS120 Europe PMC1222014 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.
Scopus8 WoS5 Europe PMC52013 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.
Scopus23 WoS20 Europe PMC182012 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.
Scopus365 WoS349 Europe PMC3352010 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.
Scopus81 WoS74 Europe PMC742010 Chattopadhyay, A., Robinson, N., Sandhu, J. K., Brett Finlay, 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.
Scopus36 WoS33 Europe PMC272009 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.
Scopus36 WoS33 Europe PMC272008 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.
Scopus39 WoS35 Europe PMC312008 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.
Scopus27 WoS24 Europe PMC262007 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.
Scopus26 WoS25 Europe PMC252007 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), 11 pages.
Scopus22 WoS22 Europe PMC18 -
Book Chapters
Year Citation 2023 Polara, R., van Rinsum, D., & Robinson, N. (2023). Autophagy in Cancer Metastasis. In K. Turksen (Ed.), Autophagy in Stem Cell Maintenance and Differentiation (Vol. 73, pp. 259-285). Springer International Publishing.
DOI Scopus22022 Chipurupalli, S., Kumari, S., Desiderio, V., & Robinson, N. (2022). Hypoxia-Induced Stress Responses in Cancer and Cancer Stem Cells. In Handbook of Oxidative Stress in Cancer: Mechanistic Aspects (Vol. 3, pp. 1829-1843). Springer Nature Singapore.
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Conference Papers
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.
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Preprint
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.
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Current Higher Degree by Research Supervision (University of Adelaide)
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 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 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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