Dr. Carroll aims to design small molecule inhibitor drugs with high affinity for the protein Vav1. This protein is an attractive target for treating pancreatic cancer because it is highly expressed in pancreatic adenocarcinomas and activates pro-cancer signaling. If she is successful, the resultant inhibitors of Vav1 will be useful as lead compounds to treat pancreatic cancer and also as chemical probes to examine the importance of Vav1 in signal transduction and human disease.

 

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Project Title: "Validation of Vav1 as a druggable cancer target using small molecules"

Institution: Vanderbilt University Medical Center

Sponsor(s) / Mentor(s): Stephen W. Fesik, PhD

Cancer Type: Pancreatic

Research Area: Structural Biology