A goal of cancer research is to study the body’s natural mechanisms for regulating the cell cycle, which often become mutated. Jonathan Dismukes, a senior majoring in Biomedical Sciences, is working a mitogen- and stress-activated kinase (MSK1) that regulates the crucial tumor suppressor protein p16. Jonathan conducted his Undergraduate Research Fellowship this summer under the mentorship of Dr. Curtis Bird in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
Jonathan is working with canine mammary tumors because they present similar models to humans and have very comparable molecular targets. Mutations in the cell cycle are being observed to see where the p16’s cellular mechanism is failing.
“Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (qPCR) was used with a fluorescent molecule to measure the expression of MSK1 during amplification,” Jonathan said. “The machine would count the fluorescence over successive cycles and allow us to verify
the expression of the protein.”
Jonathan is currently continuing his lab research to study MSK1 and the p16 tumor suppressor. This knowledge of the mechanics of p16 will allow for potential treatments to defects in both dogs and humans.
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