Biological and Biomedical Science
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Michael R. Freeman

Department of Surgery
Children's Hospital
Enders Building, Room 1161
300 Longwood Ave.
Boston, MA 02115
Tel: (617) 919-2644
Fax: (617) 730-0238
Email: Michael.freeman@childrens.harvard.edu
Web Page: The Freeman Lab Page
Administrative contact: Erica Thompson
Tel: (617) 919-2643
Email: erica.thompson@childrens.harvard.edu

My group focuses on studies directed toward understanding the molecular basis of genitourinary tract pathobiology, with a primary focus on signal transduction in cancer.

 

Our major areas of interest are: (1) Molecular mechanisms of prostate cancer progression, including the role of ErbB receptor tyrosine kinase pathway signaling, the role of kinase pathways in regulating the androgen receptor, the inter-relationship between cell death and survival mechanisms in cancer cells, and mechanisms of lipid involvement in signal transduction. (2) Mechanisms of modulation of cancer cell motile behavior, particularly the transition between the mesenchymal and amoeboid phenotypes. (3) Regulation of shedding of membrane-contained particles by tumor cells and their role in modifying the tumor microenvironment. (4) Lipid rafts and signal transduction, particularly the role of cholesterol as a mediator of prostate cancer progression. (5) Regulation of smooth muscle cell growth and phenotypic differentiation, particularly by the ErbB1 ligand heparin-binding EGF-like growth factor (HB-EGF). (6) Proteomics. Our laboratory is immediately adjacent to the Proteomics Center at Children’s Hospital. We are using state-of-the-art proteomics and informatics tools to study multi-protein complexes, particularly in the Akt signaling and EGF receptor trafficking pathways, as well as lipidation of signaling proteins. We are also applying discovery approaches to uncovering novel disease biomarkers.

 

 

 

References:

  • Cinar, B., Fang, P.-K., Lutchman, M., Di Vizio, D., Adam, R.M., Pavlova, N., Rubin, M.A., Yelick, P., and Freeman, M.R. (2007) The proapoptotic kinase Mst1 and its caspase cleavage products are direct inhibitors of Akt1. EMBO Journal 26:4523-4534.

  • Mukhopadhyay, M., Kim, J., Cinar, B., Ramachandran, A., Hager, M.H., Di Vizio, D., Adam, R.M., Rubin, M.A., Raychaudhuri, P., De Benedetti, A., and Freeman, M.R. (2009) Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K is a novel regulator of androgen receptor translation. Cancer Research 69:2210-2218.

  • Di Vizio, D., Kim, J., Hager, M.H., Morello, M., Yang, W., Lafargue, C.J., True, L., Rubin, M.A., Adam, R.M., Beroukhim, R., Demichelis, F., and Freeman, M.R. (2009) Oncosome formation in prostate cancer: Association with a region of frequent chromosomal deletion in metastatic disease. Cancer Research 69:5601-5609.