Mike and Josie Harper Cancer Research Institute
Robert Stahelin
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry & Molecular Biology
Indiana University School of Medicine
Adjunct Assistant Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry
University of Notre Dame
Robert Stahelin’s laboratory aims to advance understanding of how the mechanisms of lipid signaling are controlled in different types of cancers. His laboratory uses an interdisciplinary research approach focused on biological membranes as signaling and trafficking platforms for processes fundamental to life. These membranes composed mainly of lipids hold the key to cell division, growth, and metabolism necessary for cancer cell growth and metastasis. Thus, there is a need to comprehensively understand molecular events occurring within and on membranes as a means of grasping disease etiology and identifying viable targets for drug development. Currently, the cancer foci of the lab are lung, breast, and kidney cancers.
Briefly, the Stahelin lab is investigating:
- The Molecular Basis of Oncovirus Replication. Fifteen to 20 percent of human cancers are caused by viruses which have no cures. The Stahelin lab is investigating how these viruses replicate in human cells and designing new drugs to inhibit their spread and cancer-inducing potential.
- Discovery of New Drugs. The integration of computational biology, bioinformatics, structural biology, biochemistry, biophysics, and cell biology will aid in discovering new lipid binding proteins in the cancer genome.
- Metals in Medicine. The Stahelin lab has discovered a number of pro-survival factors in cancer that are regulated by copper.
- Lipid-Mediated Regulation of Inflammatory Enzymes. The role of inflammation in tumor growth and metastasis is the basis of these studies.
