About
Assistant Professor
Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology
Chronic arsenic toxicity, mostly through drinking of contaminated groundwater, is a global issue affecting about 225 million people worldwide, leading to multiple cancer types. My laboratory is interested in dissecting the molecular mechanisms of arsenic induced skin carcinogenesis using cell line models. Specifically, I am interested in understanding how arsenite can displace zinc from zinc finger proteins, affecting multiple cellular processes of vital importance thereby contributing to cancer development. We are also interested in exploring if zinc supplementation can prevent the arsenic binding to zinc finger motifs resulting in maintenance of proper function of these proteins and the pathways they are involved in.
Research Keywords: arsenic toxicology, arsenic-mediated multiorgan carcinogenesis, alternative splicing, arsenic transporters, zinc finger proteins.