Biotechnology at CCSF - Aliyah Peterson

Aliyah Peterson

I am originally from Richmond, California. I received my associate degree in Liberal Arts: Science and Math concurrently with my high school diploma before going on to get a Bachelor’s of Science in molecular biology from UC, Santa Cruz in 2020.

After I completed my bachelor’s degree, I wasn’t sure how to move forward. I applied to a few science-related jobs, but since I didn't have work experience, I didn't hear back. To get more research experience, I began taking classes in the CCSF Biotech program and applied for a CIRM internship.

I did my CIRM internship at Prosetta Biosciences. There I worked on characterizing multiprotein complexes that our drugs target in various cancers. My project focused on comparing the multiprotein complex of cancer cell extracts in drug treated samples versus nontreated samples.

I want to better understand protein folding, protein-protein interaction, and biochemical pathways to both understand what roles proteins play in disease and to study how the drugs that target these diseases work at a molecular level.

Aliyah Peterson-Characterization of Drug-Induced Changes to Multiprotein Complexes in Cancer Cell Extracts-2022.pdf

CIRM Intern: Aliyah Peterson

Stem Cell Internship Lab: Prosetta Biosciences

Project Title: Characterization of Drug-Induced Changes to Multiprotein Complexes in Cancer Cell Extracts

Abstract: Homeostasis is maintained through positive and negative feedback from biochemical pathways that often involve protein-protein interactions and the formation of multi-protein complexes. Cancer often escapes host innate immune defenses by causing the formation of aberrant multi-protein complexes that are unable to summon critical host defenses. Through a screening process designed to identify aberrant assembly pathways, Prosetta has identified several drug candidates that target multi-protein complexes. Kruppel-associated box domain-associated protein-1 (KAP1) has been shown to both promote and suppress tumorigenesis and has been identified as a component of the multi-protein complex targeted by one of Prosetta’s oncology drugs. My project focuses on characterizing the differences in multi-protein complexes found in DMSO vs drug candidate-treated SHSY5Y neuroblastoma and LnCAP prostate cancer cell extracts. We used immunoprecipitation with an antibody for KAP-1 to isolate the multiprotein complexes in cancer cell extracts. Under native conditions, KAP-1 was associated with other proteins, while under denatured conditions it was not. We found that treatment with the drug candidate changed the amount of heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K (HNRNPK), protein disulfide-isomerase (PDI), and beta-tubulin co-associated in a multi-protein complex with KAP-1, relative to the DMSO treated sample. This validates the hypothesis that Prosetta’s oncology drug candidate affects multi-protein complex assembly by both promoting and preventing the addition of specific proteins into a multi-protein complex in cancer cell extracts.

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Aliyah Peterson

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