Our lab investigates growth regulation by the Hippo Signaling pathway in development and cancer

Regulation of organ size control during development.

The Hippo signaling pathway was originally discovered in Drosophila and is conserved across phila, including humans. It plays a central role in organ size during embryonic development. We use the fruit fly, Drosophila melanogasteras a model organism to study how the Hippo signaling pathway and the cell adhesion molecules Dachsous and Fat play an important role in this process.  

Hippo pathway in cancer

The oncogenic transcriptional coactivators YAP and TAZ are the downstream effectors of the conserved Hippo signaling pathway and play a central role in cell proliferation, survival and fate specification. YAP/TAZ are frequently dysregulated in most human cancers, including, mesothelioma, uveal melanoma, lung, liver, breast and thyroid cancers, which exhibit increased YAP/TAZ activity. YAP promotes cancer cell proliferation, metastasis and chemo and immunotherapy resistance, and thus provides a critical control point for therapeutic intervention. We are taking a multipronged approach using computational chemistry, chemical biology and cell biology to develop inhibitors for YAP activity for treatment of various cancers.