Damon Runyon Researchers

Dr. Belyy studies how cancerous cells bypass normal signaling pathways and continue to grow uncontrollably, instead of either repairing themselves or dying in response to “unfolded protein stress.” Under these conditions, normal cells have evolved to sense this type of stress and either fix the problem or, if the fix fails, die in a controlled manner to protect the rest of the organism. He plans to use recent advances in light-activated protein engineering to study unfolded protein-mediated cell death and hopefully understand how cancerous cells are able to escape their programmed fate. These studies will potentially inform the next generation of cancer therapies targeting molecules involved in responding to the buildup of unfolded proteins.