Rate My Professor Hubert Hondermarck

Professor Hubert Hondermarck is a Professor of Medical Biochemistry in the School of Biomedical Sciences and Pharmacy, Faculty of Health and Medicine, at the University of Newcastle, Australia. He obtained his PhD in neurobiochemistry from the University of Lille, France, in 1990, and conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, Irvine, from 1991 to 1993, investigating molecular mechanisms of neuronal cell differentiation. From 2001 to 2011, he led INSERM Unit U908 in France, dedicated to growth factor signaling and functional proteomics in breast cancer. In 2011, he relocated to the University of Newcastle to establish the Cancer Neuroscience Laboratory, where he serves as Head, and as Stream Leader for Translational Neuroscience in the Mark Hughes Foundation Centre for Brain Cancer Research. His research focuses on cancer neuroscience, exploring how nerves communicate with cancer cells through neurotrophic factors such as NGF and proNGF, and their receptors TrkA and p75NTR, influencing tumor growth, invasion, metastasis, and associated pain in cancers including breast, prostate, pancreatic, glioblastoma, and esophageal.

Hondermarck's methodologies include analysis of human tumor samples, cell cultures, proteomics, and mass spectrometry, fostering collaborations with neurobiologists, pathologists, clinicians, and industry partners. He has authored over 250 publications, cited more than 8,466 times, with key works including 'The neural addiction of cancer' (Nature Reviews Cancer, 2023), 'Time to Introduce Nerve Density in Cancer Histopathologic Assessment' (Clinical Cancer Research, 2023), 'Roadmap for the Emerging Field of Cancer Neuroscience' (Cell, 2020), and 'Nerve Dependence: From Regeneration to Cancer' (Cancer Cell, 2017). His contributions have pioneered nerve density assessment in histopathology and identified novel biomarkers and therapeutic targets like sortilin and ER stress pathways. Hondermarck has secured substantial funding, including NHMRC grants ($624,547 for predicting bone metastases in prostate cancer, 2023-2025; $599,657 previously), Cancer Council NSW ($439,533 for glioblastoma therapy, 2025; $448,302 for HER2+ breast cancer, 2025), Mark Hughes Foundation ($250,000 for brain cancer neuron-tumor crosstalk, 2024-2028), and Tour de Cure ($100,000, 2025). His work advances translational oncology by developing neuroscience-based diagnostics and treatments.