Ron M.J.M. Smits, PhD
Assistant Professor

Contact details:
Room L-457
Fax. +31-10-7032793
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Ron Smits studied Biomedical Sciences at the University of Leiden, The Netherlands (1985-1992). He performed his PhD study and Postdoctoral training at the Department of Human Genetics of the Leiden University. His thesis entitled "APC and cancer: It takes two to tango" was successfully defended in 2002 (cum laude). Beginning of 2003, he joined Genentech Inc., South San Francisco, CA, as a research scientist to establish and characterize spontaneous intestinal tumor models. Here, he also developed the research line to investigate the cross-talk between receptor tyrosine kinases and ß-catenin signaling in cancer for which he was awarded a Vidi (ZonMW) grant in 2004. This work was performed as assistant professor in the Department of Pathology of the Erasmus MC in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. Since January 2008, he is a staff member at the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of the Erasmus MC, where he focuses on molecular mechanisms contributing to intestinal tumor formation and metastasis.

Selected references:

• Korsisaari N, Kasman IM, Forrest WF, Pal N, Bai W, Fuh G, Peale FV, Smits R, Ferrara N
  Inhibition of VEGF-A prevents the angiogenic switch and results in increased survival of Apc+/min mice.
  Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 104, 10625-10630, 2007
  
• Janssen KP, Alberici P, Fsihi H, Gaspar C, Breukel C, Franken P, Rosty C, Abal M, El Marjou F, Smits R, Louvard D, Fodde R, Robine S
  APC and oncogenic KRAS are synergistic in enhancing Wnt signaling in murine intestinal tumor formation and progression.
  Gastroenterology 131, 1096-1109 (2006)
  
• Albuquerque C, Breukel C, van der Luijt R, Fidalgo P, Lage P, Slors FJ, Leitao CN, Fodde R, Smits R
  The 'just-right' signaling model: APC somatic mutations are selected based on a specific level of activation of the beta-catenin signaling cascade.
  Hum Mol Genet 11, 1549-1560 (2002)
  
• Kielman MF, Rindapaa M, Gaspar C, van Poppel N, Breukel C, van Leeuwen S, Taketo MM, Roberts S, Smits R, Fodde R
  Apc modulates embryonic stem-cell differentiation by controlling the dosage of beta-catenin signaling.
  Nat Genet 32, 594-605 (2002)
  
• Fodde R, Smits R, Clevers H
  APC, signal transduction and genetic instability in colorectal cancer.
  Nat Rev Cancer 1, 55-67 (2001)

Do a PubMed search for references by Ron Smits.

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