Fields of Research
- Drug Discovery and Precision Medicine
- Intracellular Signaling
- Molecular Basis of Disease
Research Summary
The focus of my work is determining the molecular interactions and signaling events responsible for driving the pathology of fibrolamellar carcinoma.
Research Statement
Fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC) is a rare adolescent liver cancer with unique molecular features that is largely resistant to standard chemotherapy and radiation. FLC emanates from a genetic lesion on chromosome 19 that generates a de novo fusion gene product consisting of the chaperonin-binding domain of Hsp40 (DNAJ), and the catalytic subunit of PKA. Recent work in the Scott lab has found that this chimeric enzyme, DNAJ-PKAc, can recruit heat shock protein 70, a chaperonin protein often up-regulated in cancers. However, a scarcity of patient samples and lack of animal models for FLC have hampered systematic investigation into the molecular mechanics of DNAJ-PKAc action in FLC tumors. Through a combination of chemical biology and cellular biochemistry approaches in disease-relevant cell lines, I aim to elucidate the molecular mechanism of signaling components critical to the pathology of FLC.
Awards and Honors
Faculty
- Building:
- Health Sciences Building K Wing
- Room:
- K322
- Box:
- 357280
Lab
- Building:
- Health Sciences Building K Wing
- Room:
- HSC K322
- Box:
- 357750
- Phone:
- 206-221-0517
- Web Link:
- http://faculty.washington.edu/scottjdw/