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
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.
January 2021
Arizona's Science, Engineering, and Math Scholar (ASEMS) Moriah Ruskin is joining the lab as an undergraduate researcher. Moriah is working with graduate student Alyssa Werner. Welcome on board Moriah!
July 2020
Two graduate students are awarded fellowships from NIH-T32 training grants: Mollie Wiegand in MCB (Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology Program) and Alyssa Werner in CBC (Biological Chemistry Program). Congratulations to both of you! You really deserve it!
We are also welcoming undergraduate student researcher Isabelle Mundo as part of the Undergraduate Biology Research Program (UBRP). Isa is working with graduate student Mollie Wiegand.
May-July 2020
We are welcoming four High School KEYS interns for a remote online research experience this summer: Nik Mathur (University HS), Natalia Bojorquez (Nogales HS), Grace Harrington (Cactus Shadows HS), and Douglas Swango (BASIS Tucson North HS). They will be working in a team with graduate students Alyssa Werner and Mollie Wiegand to investigate the roles of mTORC2 in cancer by mining data from publicly available cancer databases. Welcome to you all, we are very excited to have you onboard this summer!
This month we are celebrating two graduations: Shannon Collins, Biochemistry PhD, and Isabella Brown BSc with double major in Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology. Shannon and Isabella were working together on investigating the role of Ras and mTORC2 in breast cancer cell migration. Despite the pandemic, we are all healthy and were able to have a small dinner party to mark the occasion. Shannon is now doing his clinical rotations to complete the MD portion of the MD/PhD program, and Isabella is going to Grad School at UT Southwestern in the Fall!
Congratulations you both, you did it!!! And we will miss you!
We are back in the lab! At least partly: staff and graduate students. We are ramping up slowly, and undergrads will come back in July.
April 2020
We are shutting down the lab this month as part of UA's effort to help flatten the curve on COVID-19 cases, but we are continuing our research from home and finding professional development projects to do until we can go back to do experiments!
March 2020
Undergraduate student and Beckman Scholar Jamie Takashima is selected for the highly competitive Goldwater Scholarship! Congratulations Jamie, you really rock!
Mollie Wiegand joins the lab as a new graduate student in the Biochemistry, Molecular & Cellular Biology Program. Mollie will be working on the role and regulation of the Ras-mTORC2 pathway in breast cancer cell migration. We are really happy to have you Mollie, Welcome!
February 2020
MD/PhD student Shannon Collins defended his PhD dissertation and will be graduating officially this May. Congratulations Dr. Collins! You only have one more "Dr" title to get, half way there! ;-)
January 2020
Welcome to our new undergraduate researchers: Nitant Soni (1st year MCB major), Stephen Dilley (1st year MCB major), Hannah Johnson (2nd year Biology major), Isabella Feldman (1st year MCB major), and Shon Alimukhamedov (2nd year MCB major). Nitant and Stephen are working with staff scientist Tariq Islam, Hannah is working with graduate student Alyssa Werner, Isabella is working with graduate student Genesis Cahigas, and Shon is working with graduate student Stephen Smith.
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.
January 2021
Arizona's Science, Engineering, and Math Scholar (ASEMS) Moriah Ruskin is joining the lab as an undergraduate researcher. Moriah is working with graduate student Alyssa Werner. Welcome on board Moriah!
July 2020
Two graduate students are awarded fellowships from NIH-T32 training grants: Mollie Wiegand in MCB (Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology Program) and Alyssa Werner in CBC (Biological Chemistry Program). Congratulations to both of you! You really deserve it!
We are also welcoming undergraduate student researcher Isabelle Mundo as part of the Undergraduate Biology Research Program (UBRP). Isa is working with graduate student Mollie Wiegand.
May-July 2020
We are welcoming four High School KEYS interns for a remote online research experience this summer: Nik Mathur (University HS), Natalia Bojorquez (Nogales HS), Grace Harrington (Cactus Shadows HS), and Douglas Swango (BASIS Tucson North HS). They will be working in a team with graduate students Alyssa Werner and Mollie Wiegand to investigate the roles of mTORC2 in cancer by mining data from publicly available cancer databases. Welcome to you all, we are very excited to have you onboard this summer!
This month we are celebrating two graduations: Shannon Collins, Biochemistry PhD, and Isabella Brown BSc with double major in Biochemistry and Molecular & Cellular Biology. Shannon and Isabella were working together on investigating the role of Ras and mTORC2 in breast cancer cell migration. Despite the pandemic, we are all healthy and were able to have a small dinner party to mark the occasion. Shannon is now doing his clinical rotations to complete the MD portion of the MD/PhD program, and Isabella is going to Grad School at UT Southwestern in the Fall!
Congratulations you both, you did it!!! And we will miss you!
We are back in the lab! At least partly: staff and graduate students. We are ramping up slowly, and undergrads will come back in July.
April 2020
We are shutting down the lab this month as part of UA's effort to help flatten the curve on COVID-19 cases, but we are continuing our research from home and finding professional development projects to do until we can go back to do experiments!
March 2020
Undergraduate student and Beckman Scholar Jamie Takashima is selected for the highly competitive Goldwater Scholarship! Congratulations Jamie, you really rock!
Mollie Wiegand joins the lab as a new graduate student in the Biochemistry, Molecular & Cellular Biology Program. Mollie will be working on the role and regulation of the Ras-mTORC2 pathway in breast cancer cell migration. We are really happy to have you Mollie, Welcome!
February 2020
MD/PhD student Shannon Collins defended his PhD dissertation and will be graduating officially this May. Congratulations Dr. Collins! You only have one more "Dr" title to get, half way there! ;-)
January 2020
Welcome to our new undergraduate researchers: Nitant Soni (1st year MCB major), Stephen Dilley (1st year MCB major), Hannah Johnson (2nd year Biology major), Isabella Feldman (1st year MCB major), and Shon Alimukhamedov (2nd year MCB major). Nitant and Stephen are working with staff scientist Tariq Islam, Hannah is working with graduate student Alyssa Werner, Isabella is working with graduate student Genesis Cahigas, and Shon is working with graduate student Stephen Smith.
Charest lab March 2019.
Absent: Stephen Smith and McKenna Schultz.
