Signal Transduction Laboratory (STL)
Welcome to the Tulane/Xavier Center for Bioenvironmental Research's
Signal Transduction laboratory. We are primarily trained in
pharmacology with a special emphasis in biochemical signal transduction
mechanisms. Model systems are cell based and are principally estrogen
positive- and estrogen negative- breast cancer as well as hypoxia
-inducible model systems. Our aim is to understand the basic mechanisms
of chemoresistance as they relate to cell survival pathways with a goal
of taking candidate compounds into in vivo animal models.
Spotlights
Jim Antoon recently defended his Ph.D. Dissertation in Pharmacology with the help of his Committee members:
Dennis B. McNamara Professor, Dir. Masters Program, John A. McLachlan Professor, Director of CBR, Craig W. Clarkson Professor, Vice Chair, Jim Antoon, Barbara Beckman Professor, Interim Chair, Geetika Chakravarty, Research Instructor, Matthew Burow, Adjunct Associate Professor, Ming Li, Adjunct Associate Professor, Debasis Mondal, Assistant Professor, Allan V. Kalueff, Assistant Professor.
Carla Zimmermann recently defended her Ph.D. Dissertation in Pharmacology with the help of her Committee members:
Drs. John McLachlan, Matt Burow, Tom Wiese (Xavier), Debasis Mondal and Barbara Beckman, and members of the Department of Pharmacology: Drs.Krishna Agrawal, Chairman, Philip Kadowitz, and Bradley Taylor.
Dr. Barbara Beckman is the Associate Dean of Admissions and Student Affairs at Tulane University's Medical School, a Fellow at the Center for Bioenvironmental Research, and the Signal Transduction Laboratory's Director. For over 25 years, her laboratory has investigated signal transduction mechanisms critical to cancer cell survival in response to hypoxic and therapeutic agents.
Dr. Barbara Drew is a postdoctoral fellow and former Masters student in pharmacology who is currently working on the role of ceramide analogs in ovarian, breast, prostate, and pancreatic cancer model systems. She begins her residency in OBGyn in July 2011.
Tony Wang, is a current Masters of Pharmacology student working in the laboratory.
Adharsh Ponnapakkam joined the Beckman lab in 2009 as a Freshman at Tulane University, and plans to pursue an MD/PhD after graduation. He Is working on underlying mechanisms and signaling pathways associated with sphingolipid second messenger systems.
Jim Antoon joined the Beckman lab in 2004 as an MD/PhD student and recently defended his Ph.D. Dissertation in Pharmacology on March 23, 2010. Using molecular and animals models, he aims to identify and understand the pathogenic intracellular lipid signaling involved cancer promotion and progression.
Matthew Gestaut is a Medical Degree candidate and was screening novel ceramide analogs for their effect on clonogenic survival, proliferation and cell viablity in triple negative breast cancer. Promising compounds were further studied in vitro in combination with animal models to determine the mechanism of action and efficacy of these ceramide derivatives as a safe and targeted breast cancer treatment.
Marty White is a Medical Degree candidate and his work centered on using sphingosine kinase inhibitors to target the NF-kappaB signaling pathway in chemoresistant breast cancer. Specifically, he looked at the effect of sphingosine kinase on phosphorylation at variuos stages of TNF induced NF-kappaB induction.