The National Institute of Diabetes & Digestive & Kidney Diseases

Intracellular Signal Transduction

The Intracellular Signal Transduction Research Program supports research aimed at understanding the structure and function of intracellular signal transducing molecules that are involved in regulating cellular responses to insulin and other hormones, including:

• Intracellular kinases, phosphatases, anchoring and scaffolding proteins;
• Biochemical pathways altered in response to intracellular changes in protein phosphorylation, Ca++ and cAMP;
• Cross-talk between signaling pathways involved in or influencing responses to insulin or other hormones, including cytokine and adhesion-regulated signaling pathways.
• Functional analysis of these proteins includes comparisons of wild type and mutant proteins in cell culture and genetically engineered animal models. The identification of regulators, interacting partners, and substrates as well as elucidation of modes of signal transmission for these signaling proteins is a major focus of this program.

Page last updated: January 05, 2009