Michael Jamros - Graduate Student
mjamros (at) ucsd.edu
M.S. University of California, San Diego -2009
B.S. Virginia Tech - 2005
Research Description:
Protein kinases play a prominent role in cell growth and therefore are promising targets for drug design for combating various cancers. The Src family of tyrosine kinases are an important group of enzymes that are up-regulated in many cancers, notably breast and colon cancer. These enzymes present an attractive chemotherapeutic target. Due to the abundance of kinases, finding unique binding surfaces is necessary in the design of selective inhibitors. To find these binding surfaces it is important to understand how the Src enzymes are naturally regulated and how they use molecular cross-talk to engage large substrate proteins. Two functionally distinct enzymes, Csk (C-terminal Src kinase) and Chk (Csk homologous kinase), down-regulate the Src kinases. While both Csk and Chk down-regulate Src and have a high homology (55% identity), the two differ in expression pattern, subcellular localization, and substrate selectivity. I am characterizing the interaction observed between Chk and Src by investigating the molecular factors that control this interaction and impact the mechanism of Src down-regulation. Additionally, I am working to further elucidate how Csk operates in regulating Src.
Publications:
Jamros, M. A.; Oliveira, L. C.; Whitford, P. C.; Onuchic, J. N.; Adams, J. A.; Blumenthal, D. K.; Jennings, P. A., Proteins at Work A COMBINED SMALL ANGLE X-RAY SCATTERING AND THEORETICAL DETERMINATION OF THE MULTIPLE STRUCTURES INVOLVED ON THE PROTEIN KINASE FUNCTIONAL LANDSCAPE. Journal of Biological Chemistry 2010, 285 (46), 36121-36128;