Cell signaling: mechanism, function & structure

How we sense and react to our environment is communicated in the cell by vast networks of highly dynamic, interacting proteins. These interactions are regulated in both space and time, and it is this tight regulation that allows signals from outside of the cell to be rapidly and precisely transmitted to the nucleus leading to the appropriate, and healthy, cellular response. We integrate structural biology, cell biology, genetics and biochemistry in order to understand how these signals in both prokaryotes and eukaryotes are communicated in the cell at atomic resolution.

Our laboratory has made fundamental advances in (1) understanding how toxin-antitoxin systems and penicillin binding proteins drive antibiotic resistance in bacteria and (2) elucidating the molecular code that controls serine/threonine phosphatase activity and specificity in human cells. We are leveraging these discoveries to develop novel chemical and genetic modulators of these key enzymes that can be used both as experimental tools and, ultimately, drugs. In particular, we have made key discoveries that are leading to the development of safer immunosuppressants and new phosphatase-based approaches for the treatments of Cancer, Alzheimer's disease and diabetes.