Brown Chair of Structural Biology
School of Medicine
Andrew N. Lane, Ph.D., is a professor in the Department of Medicine and leader of the Structural Biology Program. He holds joint appointments in the Department of Chemistry and the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He is responsible for management of the Nuclear Magnetic Resonance and protein expression core facilities at the James Graham Brown Cancer Center and is an associate of UofL's Center for Regulatory Environmental Metabolomics.
Lane’s research interests are in understanding how cells are controlled and how loss of these control processes leads to cancer. His group, in collaboration with other researchers in the James Graham Brown Cancer Center, uses a variety of methods to determine the molecular structure of proteins and nucleic acids under conditions similar to those present in cells. The group also measures how strongly and how quickly proteins bind to other molecules and what the consequences of such interactions might be for cellular function. Cellular biochemistry, both in the laboratory and in human patients, is being probed using new methods for measuring metabolic changes that occur during cancer development.
The overall aim of this research is to provide information that can lead to the design of novel therapeutic strategies. The findings then can be used to develop new drugs that fit exactly on the target molecules so that they home in on these molecules while leaving others in the cell alone.
Lane has published more than 140 peer-reviewed articles and more than 100 abstracts. He serves on several editorial boards. His research is funded by the National Cancer Institute, the Commonwealth of Kentucky Lung Cancer Research Program, the National Institutes of Health, the Susan G. Komen Foundation and the National Science Foundation.
Lane earned his bachelor’s and doctoral degrees in biochemistry from University College in London anc completed postdoctoral work in Basel, Switzerland and at Stanford University. Prior to his appointment at U of L, he lead a group for 15 years at the National Institute for Medical Research in London.