Andrew Hollenbach, PhD

Dr. Hollenbach received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the University of Delaware in 1989 and his Doctor of Philosophy degree in Biochemistry from Johns Hopkins University in 1994. Dr. Hollenbach conducted his postdoctoral training in the lab of Dr. Gerard Grosveld at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, TN, and was subsequently promoted to a junior faculty position in 2001. Dr. Hollenbach accepted a position in the Department of Genetics at LSUHSC in April 2003 where he is also a member of the Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center.

Dr. Hollenbach’s research focuses on understanding how phosphorylation of the transcription factor Pax3 regulates its biological activity to control muscle and melanocyte development and how alteration of this activity contributes to the development of the childhood solid muscle tumor alveolar rhabdomyosarcoma (ARMS) and melanoma. Towards this end, his lab has identified the three sites of phosphorylation on Pax3, they have identified two of the three kinases responsible for phosphorylating these sites, and they have determined that the pattern of Pax3 phosphorylation changes significantly during the first eight hours of myogenesis.  

Following up on these discoveries, one of the projects in the lab focuses on the oncogenic fusion protein, Pax3-FOXO1, which results from the characteristic t(2;13) reciprocal chromosomal translocation, the hallmark of ARMS. His lab has determined that the pattern of phosphorylation on Pax3-FOXO1 is significantly different from wild type Pax3. Dr. Hollenbach is interested in elucidating how the altered phosphorylation of Pax3-FOXO1 changes the normal functions of wild-type Pax3 and how this altered phosphorylation contributes to the development of ARMS. 

A second project involves examining how phosphorylation of Pax3 contributes to the development of melanoma. Pax3 is key for melanocyte development and is believed to contribute to the development of melanoma. In addition to having increased levels of Pax3, Dr. Hollenbach’s lab has discovered that Pax3 has an altered pattern of phosphorylation in a metastatic melanoma cell line relative to wild type melanocytes. His lab is interested in elucidating how this altered phosphorylation affects normal Pax3 regulation to promote melanoma cell survival.