Investigating the kinome for involvement in chemotherapeutic response

Description of projects available to graduate students:
Background: Chemotherapeutic agents such as protein kinase inhibitors are used alone and in combination with DNA alkylating agents in cancer therapy yet in many cases, resistance limits efficacy. Specific kinase inhibitors would offer greater selectivity but the precise kinases required for the response to DNA alkylators are not known.

Project Description: This project will use pools of lentivirus expressing shRNA specific to the human kinome to identify protein kinases that provide resistance or sensitivity to chemotherapies such as the alkylating agent temozolomide. Transduced cells are selected and shRNAs that confer resistance or sensitivity will be identified by deep sequencing and validated using select shRNA and cellular response analyses.

Techniques graduate student will learn:
Human cell culture, lentiviral transduction, shRNA identification by deep sequencing and cell sensitivity assays.