Rate My Professor Jennette Sakoff

Dr Jennette Sakoff is a Conjoint Associate Professor in the School of Science (Chemistry) at the University of Newcastle, holding a PhD from the same institution where she specialized in cell biology. She serves as Chief Hospital Scientist in the Department of Medical Oncology at Calvary Mater Newcastle Hospital since February 1996 and has been Chair of the Calvary Mater Newcastle Research Committee since January 2016. As leader of the Experimental Therapeutics Group, she has established a state-of-the-art translational research facility dedicated to the development and optimization of chemotherapy treatments against cancer. Her career encompasses significant contributions to cancer research, particularly in screening new compounds for anti-cancer activity using patient-derived tumor cultures from various cancers including breast, ovarian, colon, prostate, brain, and others. Expertise areas include cell culture, drug screening, cell biology, proteomics, cell cycle analysis, pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, drug combination studies, and predicting clinical toxicity.

Sakoff's research interests encompass breast cancer, cancer chemotherapy, drug development, dynamin, glioblastoma, and PP2A. She has co-authored over 138 journal articles and 35 conference papers, with notable publications including "Dynole-Based Dynamin Inhibitors as Novel Cytotoxic Agents" (ChemistrySelect, 2025), "2,3-Dihydroquinazolin-4(1H)-ones and quinazolin-4(3H)-ones as broad-spectrum cytotoxic agents and their impact on tubulin polymerisation" (RSC Medicinal Chemistry, 2024), "A novel naphthalimide that selectively targets breast cancer via the arylhydrocarbon receptor pathway" (Scientific Reports, 2020), "(Z)-2-(3,4-dichlorophenyl)-3-(1H-pyrrol-2-yl)acrylonitrile exhibits selective antitumor activity in breast cancer cell lines via the aryl hydrocarbon receptor pathway" (Molecular Pharmacology, 2018), and "Anticancer activity and protein phosphatase 1 and 2A inhibition of a new generation of cantharidin analogues" (Investigational New Drugs, 2002). Her work has led to the development of agents targeting protein phosphatases, dynamin, clathrin, and the AhR pathway, with ANI-7 now commercially available. Sakoff has been principal investigator or team member on 35 grants totaling $3,607,747. Awards include Young Medical Researcher of the Year (2000) and Pulse Education Prize (2001). She delivers selected lectures in drug development.