Profile of Kevan M. Shokat

摘要

Protein kinases are the workhorses of the cell, orchestrating complex cellular activities by carrying out a relatively simple chemical modification: the transfer of a phosphate molecule from ATP to a protein or lipid substrate via a process called phosphory-lation. Kinases are crucial to the function of all living organisms, and deregulated kinase activity lies at the heart of humanity's most pernicious diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular disease, neuro-degeneration, and diabetes. But deciphering the role of each of the more than 500 kinases encoded in the human genome has proven remarkably challenging.