News: Signal Transduction and Chemical Biology Research Program

Transcription factors — proteins that regulate gene expression — play critical roles in cell fate decisions and are frequent targets of mutation in a variety of human cancers.

TG-Interacting Factor 1 (TGIF1) is a protein that regulates self-renewal of hematopoietic stem cells, which give rise to other blood cells, and which affects proliferation and differentiation of myeloid cells.

Understanding the dynamic regulation of cytoskeletal microtubules may suggest new ways to treat disorders ranging from Alzheimer’s disease to cancer.

Jason MacGurn and colleagues have characterized a “rheostat” that sets WNT pathway signaling in breast cancer cells.

Vanderbilt University researchers have discovered how a protein pump distinguishes between chemicals that it will expel from a cell and inhibitors that block its action – findings that could guide the development of more efficient inhibitors to prevent cancer cell resistance to chemotherapy.

The 20th Annual Scientific Retreat will be held Wednesday, May 1, 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Vanderbilt University Student Life Center. Registration is free, but attendees should register by April 26. The topic of the retreat is “Signal Transduction in Cancer Initiation, Progression and Treatment.”

Finding gives boost to fighting cancer through cell metabolism

Uncontrolled activation of RAS causes approximately a third of all tumors and helps cancerous cells evade anti-cancer drugs. Vanderbilt researchers have identified small molecules that target this pathway and further defined how these small molecule compounds work.

Changes in enzymes involved in lysophospholipid signaling can activate a pathway implicated in development of cancer, a recent study suggests.

Carlos F. Lopez, PhD, and colleagues propose a new “conveyor belt” mechanism for how cellular signaling is amplified, or strengthened, as signals are handed off from one enzyme to the next.