BUSM Researchers Awarded $2.5 Million from the NIH-NIGMS

Mikel Garcia-Marcos, PhD, assistant professor in the department of biochemistry was recently awarded two grants from the National Institutes of Health-National Institute of General Medical Sciences. The grants, totaling approximately $2.5 million, will fund his two projects “Alternative mechanisms of G protein signaling” and “Identification of chemical probes that specifically target the GIV-Gi interface.”

Cells composing the different tissues and organs of the human body constantly perceive and respond to environmental signals to function normally. A vast array of human diseases including cancer, birth defects, diabetes or neurodegeneration appears when this process goes out of control. Although the molecular machinery that controls how cells perceive and respond to environmental cues is extremely complex, a group of molecules called G proteins play a pivotal role. Essentially, they work as “on/off” switches that control the flow of information from the environment into the cells.

The Garcia-Marcos lab is interested in dissecting new molecular mechanisms by which G proteins are regulated and how these will impact disease and therapeutics. “G protein signaling already represents the major target for currently marketed drugs. Revealing new ways by which they are regulated will open new avenues for therapeutic intervention by targeting this important mechanism of cell control,” explained Garcia-Marcos.

In his first project, Garcia-Marcos plans to identify and characterize a whole new family of G protein regulators–some which have already been shown to play a role in controlling cancer progression and embryonic development. “By identifying new ways of G protein regulation in health and disease we hope to understand better a fundamental biological process and discover promising therapeutic targets,” he added. The goal of his second project is to identify drugs to inhibit one of the newly identified G protein regulators, which they have found to be an inducer of cancer metastasis, the cause of more than 90 percent of cancer-related deaths. “This is the essence of what we do. We believe that focusing our research on basic science is bound to eventually deliver the so-called translational impact.”

Garcia-Marcos completed his PhD in European labs located in the Basque Country and Belgium. He joined BUSM as an assistant professor in 2012 after completing a five-year postdoctoral training at University of California, San Diego. He is also funded by a junior investigator award from the American Cancer Society.