Krishna Mudumbi, '13

I am a postdoctoral associate in the Department of Pharmacology and the Yale Cancer Biology Institute at Yale University School of Medicine. I work in Mark Lemmon's group, and my research focuses on the signaling of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). Malfunctions of these proteins are known to be associated with various cancers. In order to study RTK signaling, I use single-molecule biophysics and super-resolution microscopy to directly observe the kinetics and mechanisms involved.

During my time as an M.S. student at SJU, I did my thesis work in Dr. Edwin Li's lab. His research focus is studying the structure of a particular member of the RTK family. This was my first real exposure to the field and it made a huge impact on my research path.

Prior to working in Dr. Edwin Li's lab, I was unaware of the field of biophysics, or the interesting work being done in the field of receptor tyrosine kinase structure and signalling. With his guidance and the directly relevant classes I took at SJU, I not only gained the appropriate background information to delve deeper into the signaling of receptor tyrosine kinases, but I have been hooked on studying transmembrane proteins ever since!