Thomas Grunt

Laufbahn

Thomas Grunt studied cell biology at the University of Salzburg and, since 1987, he has worked in the Laboratory for Applied and Experimental Cancer Cell Biology (Division of Chemotherapy) at the University of Vienna. In 1992, he was awarded an international fellowship from the renowned Erwin Schrödinger program of the Austrian Science Fund FWF, to join the Vincent T. Lombardi Cancer Research Center at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C. After his return in 1994, he became head of the Laboratory for Cell Growth and Differentiation at the Division of Oncology within Medical University Vienna’s Department of Medicine I. In 1997, he was promoted to a professor of experimental oncology and cell biology. In 2001 he was visiting professor at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

From 2001 to 2019 he was heading the Signaling Networks Program at Medical University Vienna, which later became reorganized and renamed to Cell Signaling & Metabolism Networks Program. He also coordinates the Cell Signaling and Metabolism-Research Cluster at the Comprehensive Cancer Center of the Medical University Vienna. His key areas of research are breast cancer, ovarian cancer, growth factors, cancer cell metabolism, retinoids, endocrinology, neoplastic stem cells and targeted therapies. His group is focusing on understanding the molecular interactions in complex growth regulation networks of cancer cells in order to develop new approaches for anti-cancer treatment. In the years between 2007 and 2015, Thomas Grunt was also Administrative Head of the Ludwig Boltzmann Cluster Oncology (LBCO) and became Vice President of the LBCO in 2016, which has been the predecessor of the current Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Hematology & Oncology (LBI-HO).

Auszeichungen

Awards of Scientific Prizes:

• by the Austrian Society for Hematology and Oncology, 1990 (poster prize 1990)
• by the Austrian Society for Hematology and Oncology, 1991 (‘Wolfgang Denk-Preis’)
• from the Austrian Society for Hematology and Oncology, 1996 (‘Wolfgang Denk-Preis’)
• by the Center of Excellence in Clinical and Experimental Oncology, 1999 (CLEXO Award)
• Inclusion as a Biographee in the Thirtieth Anniversary Edition of the Dictionary of International Biography - 2003; International Biographical Centre, Cambridge, England
• by the Comprehensive Cancer Center Vienna, 2017 (Cluster 6 - Performance Award)
• by Spandidos Publications, 2019 (‘Asclepius Award’ presented at 24th World Congress on Advances in Oncology & 24th International Symposium on Molecular Medicine, Sparta, Greece)

Funktionen/Mitgliedschaften

Membership in scientific associations:

• Austrian Society for Electron Microscopy
• Austrian Society for Chemotherapy
• Austrian Society for Hematology and Oncology (OGHO)
• Austrian Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (OGBMT)
• Verein Förderung Wiss. u. Forschung in den neuen Univ. Kliniken am AKH (VFWF)
• European Tissue Culture Society (ETCS)
• European Association for Cancer Research (EACR)
• European Retinoid Research Group (ERRG)
• American Association for Cancer Research (AACR)
• International Society of Differentiation (ISD)
• Association of UICC Cancer Professionals - Association of UICC Fellows (AUF) - Union for International Cancer Control (UICC)
• International Society of Cancer Metabolism (ISCaM)

Functions in scientific associations:

• Austrian National Representative to the International Society of Differentiation (ISD)
• Member of the Board of Directors of the International Society of Differentiation (ISD)
• Member of The Science Advisory Board, an exclusive global network of life science and medical professionals (www.scienceboard.net)

Herausgeber:innenfunktionen in wissenschaftlichen Zeitschriften

Functions in scientific journals and books:

• Member of the Editorial Board of ‘ISRN Cell Biology’ (International Scholarly Research Network)
• Member of the Editorial Board of the ‘American Journal of Biochemistry and Biotechnology’ (Science Publications)
• Senior Editor of the journal ‘Differentiation’
• Editor of a special issue in ‘Differentiation’ on ‘Receptor Signaling in Cancer’
• Member of Editorial Committee of the German Edition of the ‘Journal of Clinical Oncology’
• Member of the Editorial Board of ‘International Scholarly Research Notices’
• Co-editor with M. Sibilia, CC. Zielinski & R. Bartsch: Drugs for HER-2-positive breast cancer. In: Milestones in drug therapy (M.J. Parnham, J. Bruinvels, Series editors). Springer Basel, 110pp., 2011
• Member of the Editorial Board of ‘Current Cancer Drug Targets’ (Bentham Science Publisher) since May 2016
• Designated Regional Editor for Austria of ‘Current Cancer Drug Targets’ (Bentham Science Publisher) since October 2020
• Section Editor of ‘Advances in Cancer Biology – Metastasis’ (Elsevier) since November 2020
• Member of Editorial Board of ‘Oncology Letters’ (Spandidos Publications) since May 2021
• Associate Editor for the Section ‘Cancer Metabolism’ in the journal ‘Frontiers in Oncology’ since May 2022

Fachgutachter:in in wissenschaftlichen Zeitschriften

Activities as a scientific reviewer:

• Permanent reviewer for all 8 journals of ‘Spandidos Publications’
• Reviewer for the Top-Journal ‘Journal of Experimental & Clinical Cancer Research’
• Reviewer for the Top-Journal ‘International Journal of Cancer’
• Reviewer for the Top-Journal ‘Aging-US’
• Reviewer for the Top-Journal ‘British Journal of Cancer’
• Reviewer for the Top-Journal ‘American Journal of Pathology’
• Reviewer for the Top-Journal ‘Oncogene’
• Reviewer for the Top-Journal ‘Breast Cancer Research and Treatment’
• Reviewer for the Top-Journal ‘Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - General Subjects’
• Reviewer for the Top-Journal ‘Biochimica et Biophysica Acta - Reviews on Cancer’
• Reviewer for the Top-Journal ‘Translational Research’
• Reviewer for the Top-Journal ‘Oncotarget’
• Reviewer for the Top-Journal ‘Scientific Reports’
• Reviewer for the Top-Journal ‘Theranostics’
• Reviewer for the Top-Journal ‘Cancers’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘Journal of Cancer Research & Clinical Oncology’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘Archives of Biochemistry and Biophysics’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘Cancer Detection and Prevention’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘European Journal of Cancer’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘European Journal of Pharmacology’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘Cancer Letters’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘Gynecologic Oncology’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘Cytokine’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘FEBS Letters’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘Chirality’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘Current Medicinal Chemistry’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘Cell Death & Disease’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘Current Drug Targets’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘Current Cancer Drug Targets’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine’
• Reviewer for the Standard-Journal ‘Oncology Letters’
• Reviewer for the Journal ‘Proteomics – Clinical Applications’
• Reviewer for the Journal ‘Translational Biomedicine’

Gutachter:in Berufungen

• Reviewer of applications for professorship
• Reviewer of applications for postdoctoral University lecture qualification (‘Habilitationen’)
• Reviewer of PhD theses at Austrian Universities (e.g. Medical University of Vienna)
• Reviewer of PhD theses at foreign Universities (e.g. Brunel University, London UK)
• Member of the appointment committee for a professorship for Molecular Cell Physiology at the University of Applied Sciences Upper Austria, Wels, 2014
• External Examiner of PhD thesis of Karly-Rai Rogers-Broadway at Brunel University London, UK, December 15, 2015

Activities as a supervisor of M.Sc. and Ph.D. theses:

• M.Sc. thesis by S. Altkind, working title: ‘Molecular relation between lipid metabolism and epigenetic gene regulation in ovarian cancer cells’, 2016, ongoing
• M.Sc. thesis by R. Breitler, working title: ‘Interfering with cancer lipid metabolism for novel treatment strategies against ovarian cancer’, 2013-2014, judgment by the graduating commission: Sehr Gut (best grade out of five grades)
• M.Sc. thesis by D. Veigel, title: ‘Characterization of a novel inhibitor of fatty acid synthase in malignant, immortalized and normal ovarian surface epithelial cells’, 2012-2013, judgment by the graduating commission: Sehr Gut (best grade out of five grades)
• M.Sc. thesis by M. Brantner, title: ‘Fibroblast growth factor signaling in ovarian cancer’, 2010-2011, judgment by the graduating commission: Sehr Gut (best grade out of five grades)
• M.Sc. thesis by V. Saferding, title: ‘Overcoming resistance against ErbB inhibitory drugs by simultaneously targeting downstream effector kinases in breast cancer cells’, 2009-2010, judgment by the graduating commission: Sehr Gut (best grade out of five grades)
• M.Sc. thesis by K. Tomek, title: ‘The molecular effects of fatty acid synthase inhibition on major gene regulatory pathways and their relationship to ovarian cancer growth control’, 2008-2009, judgment by the graduating commission: Sehr Gut (best grade out of five grades)
• M.Sc. thesis by C. Brünner-Kubath, title: ‘Molecular Mechanisms of Resistance/Sensitivity of Solid Tumors against ErbB-Inhibitor Pelitinib (EKB-569)’, 2008-2009, judgment by the graduating commission: Sehr Gut (best grade out of five grades)
• M.Sc. thesis by W. Shabbir, title: ‘Characterization of molecular determinants of sensitivity and resistance of breast and ovarian cancer cells against small molecular ErbB receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitory drugs’, 2006-2007, completed
• M.Sc. thesis by S. M. Schneider, title: ‘The effects of retinoids, steroids and thyroid hormones and of modulators of kinase-specific signaling pathways on the mRNA expression of retinoid receptors in breast cancer cells’, 1995-1996, judgment by the graduating commission: Sehr Gut (best grade out of five grades)
• M.Sc. thesis by S. H. Flicker, title: ‘The effects of ErbB-receptor tyrosine kinase-specific signal transduction pathways on the expression of retinoid- and steroid receptors’, 1994-1995, judgment by the graduating commission: Sehr Gut (best grade out of five grades)
• Ph.D. thesis by Martin Offterdinger, M.Sc., title: ‘Interactions between nuclear retinoid and membrane ErbB receptors in human mammary carcinoma cell lines’, 1995 - 1999, judgment by the graduating commission: Auszeichnung (best grade out of three grades)
• Ph.D. thesis by Sonja Schneider, M.Sc., title: ‘Modulation of the expression and activity of nuclear transcription factors of the steroid/retinoid receptor superfamily in cancer cells’, 1996 - 2000, judgment by the graduating commission: Auszeichnung (best grade out of three grades)

Gutachter Förderinstitutionen

• Reviewer for the Italian Ministry of Education, University and Research
• Reviewer for Canceropole Grand Ouest, France
• Reviewer for Breast Cancer Now, UK
• Reviewing activities for a variety of national and international scientific research foundations

Organisator Veranstaltung, Vorsitze

Functions at International Scientific Conferences:

• Main organizer (Chair of the Local Organizing Committee and Member of the Executive Board) of ‘The 14th International Conference of the International Society of Differentiation’ in 2006, Innsbruck, Austria
• Chair of Poster Session ‘Experimental Research 2’ at ‘Gemeinsame Jahrestagung der Deutschen, Österreichischen und Schweizerischen Gesellschaften für Hämatologie und Onkologie’, 2008, Vienna, Austria
• Chair of the Session ‘Gynecological Cancer/Therapeutics’ at the ‘20th World Congress on Advances in Oncology’ and the ‘18th International Symposium on Molecular Medicine’, 2015, Athens, Greece
• Chair of the Session ‘Sonstige Onkologie’ at the ‚Jahrestagung der Deutschen, Österreichischen und Schweizerischen Gesellschaften für Hämatologie und Medizinische Onkologie’, 2018, Vienna, Austria