Research Projects

Metastasis is a complex process that often leads to poor prognosis in patients with metastatic cancers. The cellular signaling associated with metastatic events is not fully understood, particularly in ovarian cancer. The Myristoylated Alanine Rich C Kinase (MARCKS) signaling is known to play a role in cancer cell migration and invasion, but its significance in ovarian cancer metastasis is still unknown. This project proposes to demonstrate the expression and phosphorylation patterns of MARCKS in different grades of ovarian carcinoma patient-derived tumor samples, investigate the detailed MARCKS signaling cascade in ovarian cancer models, and develop a therapeutic strategy against metastatic ovarian cancer using modified MARCKS phosphorylation-specific peptide candidates in in vivo preclinical mouse models.