Protein degradation pathways in human diseases

Senthil Radhakrishnan, PhD is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology at VCU.  His research is focused on understanding the protein degradation pathways (ubiquitin-proteasome system and autophagy) in pathologies such as cancer and neurodegeneration.  During his postdoctoral work, Dr. Radhakrishnan identified the transcription factor Nrf1 as a mediator of the proteasome recovery/compensatory pathway that is activated in response to proteasome inhibition.  Using cell culture and mice xenograft tumor models, Dr. Radhakrishnan's laboratory is currently investigating if the Nrf1-mediated compensatory pathway could be a viable target in anti-cancer therapy.  His laboratory is also interested in coming up with strategies for modulating protein degradation pathways in neurodegenerative diseases that display aggregates in neuronal cells.