We also have a strong interest in understanding the molecular basis of genetic diseases involving defects in these enzymes. Our laboratory has a basic research focus in two different areas. The first area is aimed at understanding the signals that are used in controlling the cell cycle. A loss of appropriate cell cycle signaling can result in uncontrolled growth, which often manifests itself as a form of cancer. The other focus of our laboratory is directed at an understanding of the checks and balances governing sterol synthesis.
Sterol synthesis is one of the major therapeutic target in the control of heart disease.
Both of these research projects involve extremely complicated regulatory signals. To aid in the our basic understanding, we have adopted the yeast system as a means of addressing our experimental questions. Proto-oncogenes comprise a family of cellular genes that have been highly conserved throughout vertebrate evolution. These genes were initially discovered as the normal cellular progenitor of retroviral oncogenes. Their high degree of conservation implies that they must serve very important functions in normal growth cellular processes.