The focus of the Peti laboratory is to understand the molecular basis of essential biological processes. Signaling cascades direct information transmission and, in turn, function in processes as diverse as memory and muscle movement. These cascades are mediated by a network of highly specific and tightly regulated protein:protein interactions, including those made by serine/threonine kinases and serine/threonine phosphatases.

Our long-term goal is to achieve an in-depth understanding of signaling networks with a special focus on serine/threonine phosphatase signaling, by using chemical, biochemical, biophysical, structural biology, especially NMR spectroscopy, X-ray crystallography and cryo-EM, combined with powerful cellular technologies.

Proteins are the main functional building blocks of our body and signaling information, how we sense and react to our environment, is communicated in the cell by phosphorylation of specific residues of these proteins. A vast, integrated network of proteins ensures that only specific proteins are phosphorylated and/or dephosphorylated at certain times to guarantee full function. If this regulation is disrupted, it often leads to disease, resulting in dramatically altered behavior, development and interaction. It is my overall scientific aim to translate our understanding of these protein signaling cascades into high resolution 3-dimensional pictures. 

Our main focus are to understand the fidelity and specificity of protein phosphatases and kinases. How do they become specific, how do they recruit substrate, which role play short linear motifs (SLiMs) in driving their functionality and ultimately how can we leverage this information to create translational outcomes.