Brief Biography

Dr. Gino Somers obtained his medical degree from Monash University in 1991 and received his PhD from the University of Melbourne in 1999. He finished his anatomical pathology training with the Royal College of Pathologists of Australia in 2002. He then went on to complete an 18 month paediatric pathology fellowship at The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in 2004 and has been a staff pathologist at SickKids since 2005. Dr. Somers is an associate scientist in Cell Biology program at the Research Institute and an assistant professor in the Laboratory Medicine and Pathology department of the University of Toronto.

Clinical Activities 

Dr. Somers’ clinical care activities are performed in the Department of Paediatric Laboratory Medicine where he is involved in the diagnostic pathology service. Dr. Somers’ areas of interest include paediatric tumours, dermatopathology and gastrointestinal pathology.

Research Interests

Dr. Somers’ research is focused primarily on paediatric sarcomas, specifically undifferentiated sarcomas. Undifferentiated sarcomas are a poorly understood group of malignant tumours composed of very primitive cells, and as such, allow insight into the very early stages of sarcoma development. By studying undifferentiated sarcomas using DNA chip and protein expression technology, the Somers lab has identified several genes and gene pathways involved in the crucial early steps of sarcomagenesis. Current work is aimed at defining the role of such gene products in the initiation and progression of paediatric sarcomas using both in vitro culture and molecular morphological techniques.

Dr. Somers is also involved in several collaborative projects, including the role of tumour suppressors in paediatric rhabdomyosarcoma, the effect of chemotherapeutic agents in paediatric osteosarcoma, and the utilization of RT-PCR in melanoma sentinel lymph node biopsies.

External Funding

• Canadian Institutes of Health Research
• Brain Tumour Assistance and Information Network
• University of Toronto Dean's Fund

Achievements

• Harry Neustein Award, Society for Pediatric Pathology
• Gordon Vawter Award, Society for Pediatric Pathology
• Young Achiever Award, Royal College of Pathologists of Australasia

Publications

Durbin A, Somers GR, Forrester M, Hannigan, G, Malkin D. Integrin-linked kinase has both oncogenic and tumor-suppressive activity in rhabdomyosarcoma subtypes with critical dependency on JNK-c-Jun signalling for its tumor suppressor activity. Journal of Clinical Investigation 2009;119 (6): 1558-70

Makawita S, Ho M, Durbin AD, Thorner PS, Malkin D, Somers GR. Expression of insulin-like growth factor pathway proteins in rhabdomyosarcoma: IGF-2 expression is associated with translocation-negative tumors. Pediatric and Developmental Pathology 2009; 12:127-135.

Somers GR, Zielenska M, Abdullah S, Chan S, Thorner PS. Expression of MYCN in pediatric synovial sarcoma. Modern Pathology 2007; 20:734-741.

Selvarajah S, Yoshimoto M, Prasad M, Shago M, Squire JA, Zielenska M, Somers GR. Characterization of trisomy 8 in pediatricundifferentiated sarcomas using advanced molecular cytogenetic techniques. Cancer, Genetics and Cytogenetics 2007;174(1):35-41.

Somers GR, Gupta AA, Doria AS, Ho M, Pereira C, Shago M, Thorner PS, Zielenska M. Pediatric undifferentiated sarcoma of the soft tissues: A clinicopathologic study. Pediatric and Developmental Pathology 2006; 9:132-142.

A detailed list of Dr. Somers' publications is available on Pub Med.