Research Program: Genetic Mechanisms of Cancer
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology; University of Minnesota, Duluth

rcormier@d.umn.edu
218-726-8625 — office
218-726-7365 — lab
Preferred method of contact: e-mail

Dr. Cormier received his Ph.D. in oncology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He conducted a postdoctoral fellowship at the McArdle Laboratory for Cancer Research and then joined the University of Minnesota Medical School-Duluth as a research associate in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. where he is currently and assistant professor. He is on the graduate faculty for the following programs.

• University of Minnesota Ph.D. Program in Biochemistry Molecular Biology & Biophysics
• University of Minnesota Ph.D. Program in Toxicology
• University of Minnesota Duluth Biology Graduate Program
• University of Minnesota Duluth Chemistry Graduate Program

Research Interests

1. Genetics of colorectal cancer
2. Mouse cancer genetics
3. Mapping & characterization of cancer modifier genes
4. Functional studies of genes of the Mom1 locus including Pla2g2a

Selected Publications

Cormier RT, Hong KH, Halberg RB, Hawkins TL, Richardson P, Mulherkar R, Dove WF, Lander ES. Secretory phospholipase Pla2g2a confers resistance to intestinal tumorigenesis. Nature Genetics 1997;17: 89-91.

Dove WF, Cormier RT, Gould KA, Halberg RB, Merritt AJ, Newton MA, Shoemaker AR. The intestinal epithelium and its neoplasms: Genetic, cellular, and tissue interactions. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci. 1998;353:915-23.

Cormier RT, Bilger A, Lillich AJ, Halberg RB, Hong KH, Gould KA, Borenstein N, Lander ES, Dove WF. The Mom1AKR intestinal tumor resistance region consists of Pla2g2a and locus distal to D4Mit64. Oncogene 2000;19:3182-3192.

Cormier RT, Dove WF. Dnmt1N/+ reduces the net growth rate and multiplicity of intestinal adenomas in C57BL/6-multiple intestinal neoplasia (Min)/+ mice independently of p53 but demonstrates strong synergy with the modifier of Min 1AKR resistance allele. Cancer Res. 2000;60:3965-3970.

McAlpine CA, Barak Y, Matise I, Cormier RT. Intestinal-specific PPARg enhances tumorigenesis in ApcMin/+ mice. Intl J Cancer 2006;119:2339-2346.

Fijneman, R. J. A. and Cormier, R.T. (2008). The putative roles of sPLA2-IIA (Pla2g2a) in cancer of the small and large intestine. Front Bioscience, 4144-4174, May, 2008.

Yang, K., Popova, N.V., Yang, W., Lozonschi, I., Tadesse, S., Kent, S., Bancroft, L., Matise, I., Cormier, R.T., Scherer, S., Edelmann, W., Lipkin, M., Leonard Augenlicht, A. and Anna Velcich, A. (2008). Interaction of Muc2and Apcon Wnt signaling and in intestinal tumorigenesis: potential role of chronic inflammation. Cancer Res, 68 (18): 7313-7322.

Bogan, C., Chen, J., O'Sullivan, M.G. and Cormier, R.T. (2008). Loss of EphA2 receptor tyrosine kinase reduces ApcMin/+ tumorigenesis. Int J Cancer, 124 (6), 1366-1371.

Fijneman, R.J.A., Peham, J.R., van de Wiel, M.A, Meijer, G.A, Matise, I., Velcich, A., and Cormier, R.T. (2008). Expression of Pla2g2a prevents carcinogenesis in Muc2-deficient mice. Cancer Science, 99 (11): 2113-2119.

Starr, T.K., Allaei, R., Silverstein, K.A.T., Staggs, R.A., Bergemann, T., O'Sullivan, M.G., Matise, I., Dupuy, A.J., Collier, L.S., Powers, S., Thibodeau, S.N., Tessarollo, L., Copeland, N.G., Jenkins, N.A., Cormier, R.T. and Largaespada, D.A. (2009). A Sleeping Beauty Transposon-based screen identifies genes altered in human colorectal cancer. Science,323: 1747-1750.

Fijneman, R.J.A., Bade, L.K., Peham, J.R., van de Wiel, M.A., van Hinsbergh, V.W.M., Meijer, G.A., O'Sullivan, M.G., and Cormier, R.T. (2009). Expression of Pla2g2a prevents tumorigenesis in azoxymethane-treated C57BL/6 mice; gene expression studies reveal Pla2g2a target genes in mouse colon. Cellular Oncology, January, in press.