Welcome to the Charest Lab!
In the laboratory of Dr. Pascale Charest at the University of Arizona, we study how cells migrate in response to external chemical cues (chemoattractants), a process (chemotaxis) that is important to normal physiology and that is also implicated in the onset and progression of diseases such as cancer metastasis. Metastasis, the migration of cancer cells away from the primary tumor to other parts of the body, is by far the major cause of death from cancer. Yet, most anti-cancer drugs inhibit only cancer cell proliferation. One main reason for the lack of efficient anti-metastasis therapy is our lack of understanding of what promotes tumor cell migration and invasion. Our goal is to identify key, conserved intracellular signaling pathways and molecular mechanisms that control cell migration to guide the development of therapeutic strategies preventing the spread of cancer. For this, we work with the model organism Dictyostelium discoideum as well as normal and transformed human cells, and we use collaborative, interdisciplinary approaches that include cellular, molecular, biochemical, biophysical and computational methods.
Charest Lab News
September 2021
Graduate student Alyssa Werner had her little baby girl, Aviana June, on Sept. 5. Aviana came into the world 7 weeks early, she was in a hurry! Mommy and baby are doing really well. Congratulations to the new parents!
Graduate student Alyssa Werner had her little baby girl, Aviana June, on Sept. 5. Aviana came into the world 7 weeks early, she was in a hurry! Mommy and baby are doing really well. Congratulations to the new parents!
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July 2021
This summer, we are welcoming four KEYS high school interns, who will be working remotely due to the pandemic on bioinformatic data mining projects to investigated potential genes regulating mTORC2 in cancer. Makaela Valencia and Saathvik Chandupatla will work with graduate student Alyssa Werner, and Prithvi Yuvaraj and Saathvika Vegasina will work with graduate student Mollie Wiegand. Welcome! |
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Also welcome to a new undergraduate researcher part of the Undergraduate Biology Research Program, UBRP, Meccah Jarrah! Meccah will be working with graduate student Alyssa Werner on the role of Ras and PI3K in promoting mTORC2 activation.
May 2021
Undergraduate students Ethan Weiss and Jamison (Jamie) Takashima are graduating! Congratulations!
Ethan has been working with the lab since he was a high school intern through the KEYS program during his senior year, so he was with us for almost 5 years! Ethan has significantly contributed to our research working alongside graduate student Stephen Smith. He will be missed! Ethan is taking a gap year and then plans to go to Medical School. We wish you good luck on all your future endeavors!
Jamie has been working with the lab for 3 years and has been extremely productive, he successfully adapted the APEX2 proximity labeling method for use in Dictyostelium and we are currently preparing a manuscript to publish the protocol. Also, Jamie is going to graduate school! He will join the Chemistry program at the California Institute of Technology this coming Fall. We look forward to see all the great things that he will accomplish in his research career!
March 2021
Senior undergraduate student Jamie Takashima is awarded an individual NSF-GRFP fellowship to support him in his graduate studies starting next year at California Institute of Technology. Congratulations Jamie, this is a great achievement and you really deserve it!!!
Welcome to new Biochemistry graduate student Helena Woroniecka! Helena will be working on identifying new G Protein-Coupled Receptor-mediated signaling mechanisms controlling chemotaxis in Dictyostelium.
May 2021
Undergraduate students Ethan Weiss and Jamison (Jamie) Takashima are graduating! Congratulations!
Ethan has been working with the lab since he was a high school intern through the KEYS program during his senior year, so he was with us for almost 5 years! Ethan has significantly contributed to our research working alongside graduate student Stephen Smith. He will be missed! Ethan is taking a gap year and then plans to go to Medical School. We wish you good luck on all your future endeavors!
Jamie has been working with the lab for 3 years and has been extremely productive, he successfully adapted the APEX2 proximity labeling method for use in Dictyostelium and we are currently preparing a manuscript to publish the protocol. Also, Jamie is going to graduate school! He will join the Chemistry program at the California Institute of Technology this coming Fall. We look forward to see all the great things that he will accomplish in his research career!
March 2021
Senior undergraduate student Jamie Takashima is awarded an individual NSF-GRFP fellowship to support him in his graduate studies starting next year at California Institute of Technology. Congratulations Jamie, this is a great achievement and you really deserve it!!!
Welcome to new Biochemistry graduate student Helena Woroniecka! Helena will be working on identifying new G Protein-Coupled Receptor-mediated signaling mechanisms controlling chemotaxis in Dictyostelium.
Charest lab May 2021.
