A. Research Interests:
1. Hemostasis and Thrombosis
2. Cancer Biology and Signaling
B. General Research Statement:
The research area of this laboratory is concerned with proteases and
their inhibitors in human biology and in various disease processes
(thrombosis and cancer). We investigate this area using three
different approaches: In the first approach, we perform structure to
activity studies with Serpins (serine protease inhibitors) and serine
proteases. This research is aimed at understanding the molecular
mechanism of protein-protein recognition between proteases and
inhibitors (and glycosaminoglycans). In the second approach, we
study the role(s) of proteases in pathological processes by describing
the in vivo localization and molecular regulation of proteases and
inhibitors in tissues (and tumor cell lines), especially breast
cancer. We are dissecting the signaling pathways and interactions
that alter the balance between proteases and their inhibitors that
promote breast cancer cell invasion. In the third approach, we
are using RNA aptamer technology, gene transfer techniques, and in vivo
murine vascular injury models to study/control disease processes.
This research is aimed at creating RNA aptamers that are novel drug,
use protein engineering-molecular biology to design novel protein with
enhanced function compared to their wild-type counterparts. The
goal is to develop reagents for regulating uncontrolled proteolysis
during a pathological event.
C. Research Philosophy:
My research philosophy is to provide a supportive environment for
students (undergraduate, medical and graduate) to perform biomedical
research, to allow postdoctoral fellows the opportunity to direct the
entire scientific process, and to strive for a caring laboratory
family. It is my belief that research should be considered an
"apprenticeship", and providing this training is of paramount
importance to my career goals. My research is in protein
structure-activity relationships, in the molecular basis of disease,
and in trying to bridge these two endeavors for development of
clinical therapeutics. My overall goal is to be an effective
mentor and to provide scholarship and education to everyone in this
laboratory.
D. Science Quotes (that perfectly describe science and the
pursuit of discovery!):
“When the right ideas emerge, a completely indescribable process of
high intensity comes to pass in the soul of the person who sees
them.” Werner Heisenberg, The Meaning of Beauty in Exact Natural
Science, 1971.
“Let me be contented in everything except in the great science of my
profession. Never allow the thought to arise in me that I have
attained to sufficient knowledge, but vouchsafe to me the strength, the
leisure and the ambition ever to extend my knowledge. For art is great,
but the mind of man is ever expanding.” Moses Maimonides, 12th-century
physician-philosopher, from the Prayer of Maimonides.
“Live neither in the past nor in the future, but let each day's work
absorb your entire energies, and satisfy your widest ambition.”
Sir William Osler to his students (1849-1919)