The PI3K pathway has a number of diverse functions, including altering the cell’s metabolism and driving cell growth and proliferation. The PI3K pathway also is the most commonly mutated pathway in cancer that can be targeted by drugs. “Our multi-institutional research team studied the PI3K pathway, one of the most important pathways of the cell,” … Continue reading
There is a group of metastatic breast cancers that has the HER2 gene amplified – the cells have many copies of it – which leads to enhanced activity of the product enzyme, a tyrosine kinase. HER2 has been established as a therapeutic target in breast cancer, and breast cancers in which the HER2 gene is … Continue reading
Cells may stray away from their normal function in a number of ways. For example, it’s been known for some time that in a number of cancers the surface molecule CD44 seems to be involved with cancer-promoting mechanisms. Studies trying to discover how this happens, however, have yielded controversial results. In her lab, Dr. Chonghui … Continue reading
It’s not news that microbes can alter the physiology of the organisms in which they live, but the actual molecular mechanisms that mediate their interactions have been largely unknown. Understanding how microbes and their hosts influence each other’s functions is one of the interests of Dr. Meng Wang. “Microbes living inside another organism, the host, … Continue reading
Deep in the brains of two patients with Alzheimer’s disease, the main memory structure, the hippocampus, displays episodic seizure-like electrical activity. These nonconvulsive hippocampal seizures are the first signs of ‘silent’ brain electrical network dysfunction described in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, a condition affecting more than 5 million people in the U.S. “About 10 years … Continue reading
When a group of researchers in the Undiagnosed Disease Network at Baylor College of Medicine realized they were spending days combing through databases searching for information regarding gene variants, they decided to do something about it. They created MARRVEL (Model organism Aggregated Resources for Rare Variant ExpLoration) to help not only their own lab but … Continue reading
From the Labs Continue reading
From the Labs 