Reuven Agami (

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: ראובן אגמי; born 16 December 1965) is a Dutch cancer researcher. He is a professor of Oncogenomics at

Erasmus University Rotterdam Erasmus University Rotterdam ( ; abbreviated as EUR) is a public research university located in Rotterdam, Netherlands. The university is named after Desiderius Erasmus Roterodamus, a 15th-century Christian humanist and theologian. Erasmus M ...

and head of the section of Oncogenomics at the Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoekziekenhuis. Since October 2023 the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) has selected Reuven Agami as a member.

Career

Agami was born in

Herzliya Herzliya ( ; , / ) is an affluent List of Israeli cities, city in the Israeli coastal plain, central coast of Israel, at the northern part of the Tel Aviv District, known for its robust start-up and entrepreneurial culture. In it had a populatio ...

Israel on 16 December 1965. He studied medical biology at the University of Tel Aviv. Agami subsequently moved to the Weizmann Institute of Science (WIS) in Israel to obtain his master's degree in the Department of Biophysics studying spliced leader RNA in Leishmania parasites. Subsequently, he moved to the Department of Molecular Genetics at the WIS where he obtained his Ph.D. in 1999 under Yosef Shaul with a thesis titled: “Cell cycle and apoptosis control induced by the tyrosine kinase c-Abl”. Agami then moved to the Netherlands and was a post-doc under

René Bernards René Bernards (born 4 January 1953) is a Dutch cancer researcher. He is professor of molecular carcinogenesis at Utrecht University and head of the section of molecular carcinogenesis at the Netherlands Cancer Institute- Antoni van Leeuwenhoekz ...

at the Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoekziekenhuis to study

p53 p53, also known as tumor protein p53, cellular tumor antigen p53 (UniProt name), or transformation-related protein 53 (TRP53) is a regulatory transcription factor protein that is often mutated in human cancers. The p53 proteins (originally thou ...

-independent

DNA damage DNA repair is a collection of processes by which a cell identifies and corrects damage to the DNA molecules that encode its genome. A weakened capacity for DNA repair is a risk factor for the development of cancer. DNA is constantly modified ...

responses. From 2001 to 2005 Agami was an

assistant professor Assistant professor is an academic rank just below the rank of an associate professor used in universities or colleges, mainly in the United States, Canada, Japan, and South Korea. Overview This position is generally taken after earning a doct ...

at the Division of Tumor Biology Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoekziekenhuis. His research brought together his expertise in

RNA Ribonucleic acid (RNA) is a polymeric molecule that is essential for most biological functions, either by performing the function itself (non-coding RNA) or by forming a template for the production of proteins (messenger RNA). RNA and deoxyrib ...

and

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

by developing new technologies in RNA interference (RNAi) and microRNAs (miRNAs). From 2005 to 2008 Agami was appointed associate professor at the Division of Tumor Biology Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoekziekenhuis. In this period, he further expanded his scientific interest to the regulation of miRNA function by RNA binding proteins. From 2008 to 2013 Agami became the head of the Division of

Gene Regulation Regulation of gene expression, or gene regulation, includes a wide range of mechanisms that are used by cells to increase or decrease the production of specific gene products (protein or RNA). Sophisticated programs of gene expression are wide ...

at the Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoekziekenhuis. During this period, he broadened his scientific interest in the regulation of gene expression by Alternative polyadenylation (APA). From 2013 to 2017 Agami was heading the Division of Gene Regulation at the Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoekziekenhuis. With the development of

Ribosome profiling Ribosome profiling, or Ribo-Seq (also named ribosome footprinting), is an adaptation of a technique developed by Joan Steitz and Marilyn Kozak almost 50 years ago that Nicholas Ingolia and Jonathan Weissman adapted to work with next generation se ...

and CRISPR-Cas9 technologies, he further studied transcriptional Enhancers and

mRNA translation In biology, translation is the process in living cells in which proteins are produced using RNA molecules as templates. The generated protein is a sequence of amino acids. This sequence is determined by the sequence of nucleotides in the RNA. T ...

, mostly focusing on enhancerRNAs and predicting metabolic changes in cancer. Since 2017 Agami is heading the Division of Oncogenomics at the Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoekziekenhuis where he investigates mistakes made during mRNA translation when cancer cells experience specific amino acid deficiencies. He aims at utilizing these findings to improve cancer immunotherapy of resistant tumors. Since 2008 Agami is also a full Professor at the Department of Molecular Genetics at Erasmus Medical Centre Rotterdam University, The Netherlands.

Research

Agami is known for his work utilizing RNA-based and functional genomics technologies in cancer research. He was the inventor of pSUPER, a

plasmid A plasmid is a small, extrachromosomal DNA molecule within a cell that is physically separated from chromosomal DNA and can replicate independently. They are most commonly found as small circular, double-stranded DNA molecules in bacteria and ...

-based suppression of gene expression, miRVec, a vector-based expression of miRNAs, and the expression of aberrant proteins due to

Ribosomal frameshift Ribosomal frameshifting, also known as translational frameshifting or translational recoding, is a biological phenomenon that occurs during translation that results in the production of multiple, unique proteins from a single mRNA. The process can ...

and substitutants following IDO1-mediated

Interferon gamma Interferon gamma (IFNG or IFN-γ) is a dimerized soluble cytokine that is the only member of the type II class of interferons. The existence of this interferon, which early in its history was known as immune interferon, was described by E. F. ...

-induced

tryptophan Tryptophan (symbol Trp or W) is an α-amino acid that is used in the biosynthesis of proteins. Tryptophan contains an α-amino group, an α-carboxylic acid group, and a side chain indole, making it a polar molecule with a non-polar aromat ...

depletion of cancer cells by

T cell T cells (also known as T lymphocytes) are an important part of the immune system and play a central role in the adaptive immune response. T cells can be distinguished from other lymphocytes by the presence of a T-cell receptor (TCR) on their cell ...

attack. His research greatly contributed to the fields of miRNAs, RNA binding proteins, Alternative cleavage and polyadenylation, non-coding RNAs, and mRNA translation. His recent work on aberrant peptides holds the potential to develop immunotherapeutic approaches to treat cancer.

Honors and distinctions

*In 1999, Agami was awarded a European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) long-term fellowship in 1999, *an EMBO Young investigator program (EMBO-YIP) award. in 2004, and was elected an EMBO member in 2008. *In 2001, Agami was awarded the Netherlands Cancer Institute-Antoni van Leeuwenhoekziekenhuis Prize for his contributions in the field of p53-independent DNA damage responses. *In 2004, he was elected a member of the young Dutch royal academy of science (DJA-KNAW). During his scientific career, Agami was awarded the European young investigator (EURYI) award in 2004. *In 2007 Agami was the winner of the Dr. Joseph Steiner Prize for his contributions in the field of small RNAs and Cancer. Further, he received VIDI and VICI awards from Dutch Research Council(NWO) in 2004 and 2011, respectively * ERC-starting award in 2008, ERC-advanced in 2012, and 2018 *In 2010 Agami was awarded the European Society for Clinical Investigation (ESCI) Prize for his contributions in the field of miRNAs and cancer. *In 2016 Agami was nominated a member of the

Academia Europaea The Academia Europaea is a pan-European Academy of humanities, letters, law, and sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as a functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry. It acts as co-ordinator of Europe ...

. In 2017 he was elected a member of Oncode Institute *In 2023 he was elected a member of the

Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences The Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (, KNAW) is an organization dedicated to the advancement of science and literature in the Netherlands. The academy is housed in the Trippenhuis in Amsterdam. In addition to various advisory a ...

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Agami, Reuven Academic staff of Erasmus University Rotterdam Living people 1965 births Cancer researchers Members of the Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences Tel Aviv University alumni Weizmann Institute of Science alumni People from Herzliya