Research Interests: The research in my lab focuses on signal transduction and questions associated with signaling dynamics. This includes
- signaling pathways activated by G protein-coupled receptors
- How parathyroid hormone (PTH) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) signaling cross-talk to regulate epithelial function
- the role of PTH biased agonism in the regulation of bone cell function
- deorphanizing GPCR using in silico modeling and in vitro validation to identify ligands (in collaboration with Drs. Abby Parrell and Dan Baker, Chemistry)
Research Summary
The research focus in my lab is on the cross-talk between G protein-coupled receptors and receptor tyrosine kinases and their use of the mitogen-activated protein kinase ERK to regulate cellular functions. An important aspect of signal transduction research involves identifying the regulatory molecules connecting a receptor with a change in the rate of a physiological function. While there are literally thousands of receptor molecules, there are substantially fewer regulatory molecules. Thus cells must find a way to interpret differences in the size, duration and subcellular location of a signal in order to produce an appropriate response.
Recent Publications from the Cole lab:
# graduate student *undergraduate students
- MF Carrasco-Harris#, JR Mandel, CM Siniscalchi, S Reichling and JA Cole. Population genetics of Copperheads (Agkistroden contortrix). Herpetol Rev 51:1-7, 2020.
- Castleman PN#, Sears CK*, Cole JA, Baker DL, Parrill AL. GPCR homology model template selection benchmarking: Global versus local similarity measures. J Molecular Graphics Modelling 86:235-246, 2019
- Wink LH#, Baker DL, Cole JA, and Parrill, A. A Benchmark Study of Loop Modeling Methods Applied to G Protein-Coupled Receptors. J Computer-Aided Molec Design 33(6):573-595
- Campion CM#, Leon Carrion S#, Mamidanna G#, Sutter CH, Sutter TR, Cole JA. Role of EGF receptor ligands in TCDD-induced EGFR down-regulation and cellular proliferation. Chem Biol Interact.253:38-47, 2016.
Information Links
- Visit the Department of Biological Sciences Website to learn more about the Graduate Program
- The Integrated Microscopy Center: provides microscopy expertise to the University and the Memphis scientific community
- The Center for Biodiversity, a community of faculty, post-docs and staff whose research centers on areas of biodiversity
- The University of Memphis
- The City of Memphis: the Bluff City, home of St Jude Children’s Research Hospital, The National Civil Rights Museum, Elvis, and the Blues