Please join us in congratulating Dr. Kalina Hristova, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering and the Marlin U. Zimmerman Jr. Faculty Scholar, who is the recipient of an NIH grant totaling nearly $1.3 million.
The research project, entitled “Seeking the Biophysical Principles that Govern RTK Activation,” will establish a methodology that, for the first time, allows quantitative RTK dimerization measurements for physiological expression levels. The basic knowledge gained through this research will help the scientific community in the search for novel RTK-inhibitors that can be used to combat human cancers and growth disorders.
RTKs–short for receptor tyrosine kinases–regulate cell growth, differentiation, and motility. Aberrant RTK signaling can lead to disease, and while RTK-specific therapies are being sought there is no consensus model of RTK signal transduction across the plasma membrane. The lack of basic knowledge has caused a bottleneck in further development of RTK-specific therapies.