The general aim of this lab's work is to elucidate signaling pathways and oncogenic impact for key survival kinases in various cancers. For cancer therapy, protein kinases have attracted much attention as targets in recent years. The researchers have extensive experience with the protein kinases CK2 and CDK11. CK2 is a highly conserved and ubiquitous multi-functional serine/threonine protein kinase which plays key roles in cell growth, is critical for cell survival, and is dysregulated in all cancers examined. CDK11 is a protein serine/threonine kinase that is essential for cell survival and demonstrates increased protein expression in many cancer types. Both CK2 and CDK11 are proposed to contribute to the development and maintenance of several hallmarks of cancer.
The goal of these experiments is to develop new biomarkers and therapeutic strategies for cancer treatment. These projects are designed to elucidate the roles of CK2 and CDK11 in normal and neoplastic cells of various origins as well as to determine the efficacy and death mechanisms of targeting these kinases using various molecular approaches. The researchers have various analyses underway or planned which utilize MSI resources. These include miRNA studies, proteomics studies, RNA-seq, and ChIP-seq.