Rate My Professor Tony Tiganis

Professor Tony Tiganis is a Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Monash University, within the Faculty of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences and the Monash Biomedicine Discovery Institute. He heads the Metabolism, Diabetes and Obesity Program and the Cellular Signalling and Human Disease Laboratory. Tiganis earned his BSc (Hons) in Pharmacology in 1989 and PhD in Biochemistry in 1994 from the University of Melbourne, completing his doctoral work on structure/activity relationships of casein kinase II under Professor Bruce E. Kemp at St Vincent’s Institute of Medical Research. He pursued postdoctoral training as a C.J. Martin Fellow with Professor Nicholas K. Tonks at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory from 1995 to 1997. After returning to St Vincent’s Institute, he established his independent laboratory at Monash University in 2000 as an NHMRC R. Douglas Wright Fellow. His career progression includes Lecturer (2001-2002), Senior Lecturer (2003-2005), Associate Professor (2006-2009), Professor (2010-2015), tenured Professor (2016-), Deputy Head of Department (Research) (2009-2014), and NHMRC Principal Research Fellow (2010-2020). Current appointments encompass Laboratory Head at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre (2016-), Director of Monash Metabolic Phenotyping Facility (2016-), Adjunct Professor at Yale School of Medicine (2019-), Consultant at Regeneron Pharmaceuticals (2019-), and Scientific Advisory Board Member at DepYmed Inc. (2020-).

Tiganis’ research investigates tyrosine-phosphorylation-dependent cellular signalling and tissue crosstalk in human disease, with a focus on protein tyrosine phosphatases (PTPs) in obesity, type 2 diabetes, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, hepatocellular carcinoma, and cancer immunotherapy. Seminal discoveries include the role of reactive oxygen species in promoting insulin sensitivity in vivo by inhibiting PTPs in muscle (Cell Metabolism, 2009), a hypothalamic PTP switch coordinating insulin and leptin signalling to drive energy expenditure (Cell Metabolism, 2015), and redox imbalance promoting obesity-driven liver cancer independent of fibrosis (Cell, 2018). His laboratory defined PTPN2 as an intracellular immune checkpoint akin to PD-1, where its deletion enhances T cell and CAR T cell anti-tumor responses, including against solid tumors, underpinning three PCT patents and an imminent clinical trial at Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre. Tiganis serves as Editor for FEBS Journal, Molecular & Cellular Biology, and Science Advances. His multidisciplinary contributions have challenged dogmas in redox biology, metabolic signalling, and immunotherapy, attracting commentaries in Cancer Discovery, Nature Reviews, and industry partnerships.