Rodney Stewart

Rodney Stewart, MPhil, PhD

Languages spoken: English

Academic Information

Departments Primary - Oncological Sciences

Lab

Research Interests

  • Childhood Cancer
  • Embryology
  • Brain Tumors
  • Zebrafish
  • Neural Crest Development
  • Neuroblastoma

Rodney Stewart, PhD, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Oncological Sciences at the University of Utah and a Huntsman Cancer Institute (HCI) investigator. He is a member of the Cell Response and Regulation Program.

Stewart's research focuses on identifying genetic mechanisms and drugs that impact pediatric cancers of the nervous system. His research combines embryology and cancer biology approaches using zebrafish cancer models and human cancer cell models to find conserved targets for treatment of pediatric brain tumors. He is also interested in the discovery of new therapeutic targets in melanoma and neuroblastoma.

Before joining HCI, Stewart was a research fellow in the Department of Pediatric Oncology at Harvard Medical School, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, where he also served as an instructor in pediatric oncology. He earned a PhD from Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut.

Education History

Undergraduate University of Melbourne
 BSc (Hons)

Selected Publications

Journal Article

  1. Casey MJ, Chan PP, Li Q, Zu JF, Jette CA, Kohler M, Myers BR, Stewart RA (2024). A simple and scalable zebrafish model of Sonic hedgehog medulloblastoma. Cell Rep, 43(8), 114559. (Read full article)
  2. Gopal U, Monroe JD, Marudamuthu AS, Begum S, Walters BJ, Stewart RA, Washington CW, Gibert Y, Zachariah MA (2023). Development of a Triple-Negative Breast Cancer Leptomeningeal Disease Model in Zebrafish. Cells, 12(7). (Read full article)
  3. Casey MJ, Call AM, Thorpe AV, Jette CA, Engel ME, Stewart RA (2022). The scaffolding function of LSD1/KDM1A reinforces a negative feedback loop to repress stem cell gene expression during primitive hematopoiesis. iScience, 26(1), 105737. (Read full article)
  4. Sorrells S, Nik S, Casey M, Cameron RC, Truong H, Toruno C, Gulfo M, Lowe A, Jette C, Stewart RA, Bowman TV (2018). Spliceosomal components protect embryonic neurons from R-loop-mediated DNA damage and apoptosis.LID - dmm031583 [pii]LID - 10.1242/dmm.031583 [doi]. Dis Model Mech, 11(2). (Read full article)
  5. Casey MJ, Modzelewska K, Anderson D, Goodman J, Boer EF, Jimenez L, Grossman D, Stewart RA (2017). Transplantation of Zebrafish Pediatric Brain Tumors into Immune-competent Hosts for Long-term Study of Tumor Cell Behavior and Drug Response.LID - 10.3791/55712 [doi]. J Vis Exp, (123). (Read full article)
  6. Modzelewska K, Boer EF, Mosbruger TL, Picard D, Anderson D, Miles RR, Kroll M, Oslund W, Pysher TJ, Schiffman JD, Jensen R, Jette CA, Huang A, Stewart RA (2016). MEK Inhibitors Reverse Growth of Embryonal Brain Tumors Derived from Oligoneural Precursor Cells. Cell Rep, 17(5), 1255-1264. (Read full article)
  7. Jimenez L, Wang J, Morrison MA, Whatcott C, Soh KK, Warner S, Bearss D, Jette CA, Stewart RA (2016). Phenotypic chemical screening using a zebrafish neural crest EMT reporter identifies retinoic acid as an inhibitor of epithelial morphogenesis. Dis Model Mech, 9(4), 389-400. (Read full article)
  8. Boer EF, Jette CA, Stewart RA (2016). Neural Crest Migration and Survival Are Susceptible to Morpholino-Induced Artifacts. PLoS One, 11(12), e0167278. (Read full article)
  9. Morrison MA, Zimmerman MW, Look AT, Stewart RA (2016). Studying the peripheral sympathetic nervous system and neuroblastoma in zebrafish. Methods Cell Biol, 134, 97-138. (Read full article)
  10. Boer EF, Howell ED, Schilling TF, Jette CA, Stewart RA (2015). Fascin1-dependent Filopodia are required for directional migration of a subset of neural crest cells. PLoS Genet, 11(1), e1004946. (Read full article)
  11. Zhu S, Lee JS, Guo F, Shin J, Perez-Atayde AR, Kutok JL, Rodig SJ, Neuberg DS, Helman D, Feng H, Stewart RA, Wang W, George RE, Kanki JP, Look AT (2012). Activated ALK collaborates with MYCN in neuroblastoma pathogenesis. Cancer Cell, 21(3), 362-73. (Read full article)
  12. Stewart RA, Sanda T, Widlund HR, Zhu S, Swanson KD, Hurley AD, Bentires-Alj M, Fisher DE, Kontaridis MI, Look AT, Neel BG (2010). Phosphatase-dependent and -independent functions of Shp2 in neural crest cells underlie LEOPARD syndrome pathogenesis. Dev Cell, 18(5), 750-62. (Read full article)

Review

  1. Casey MJ, Stewart RA (2020). Pediatric Cancer Models in Zebrafish. [Review]. Trends Cancer, 6(5), 407-418. (Read full article)
  2. Casey MJ, Stewart RA (2017). Zebrafish as a model to study neuroblastoma development.LID - 10.1007/s00441-017-2702-0 [doi]. [Review]. Cell Tissue Res. (Read full article)