PhD
Assistant Professor, Biochemistry and Biophysics
UNC-Chapel Hill
Cancer Cell Biology
Area of Interest
In the Berlow Lab, we seek to understand the roles of intrinsically disordered proteins in cellular signaling, regulation, and spatial organization, with a particular focus on characterizing their diverse roles in cancer biology. Intrinsically disordered proteins do not adopt a single, stable structure in isolation and instead utilize dynamics and disorder to interact with and compete for molecular interaction partners in ways that are not possible for stably folded proteins. Protein disorder is a common feature of many cancer-associated proteins that control cellular responses to metabolic and environmental stress and are prone to dysregulation in cancer cells and in the tumor microenvironment. Our goal is to integrate data from structural, biophysical, and functional assays to identify strategies for modulating the functions of disordered proteins and develop new approaches for cancer treatment and/or prevention.
Awards and Honors
- American Cancer Society Postdoctoral Fellowship, 2013-2016
