Cell death is a critical process in development, maintaining the tissue homeostasis and for the distraction of damaged cells. Many diseased conditions are associated with deregulated balance in cell death. Too little or too insensitive cell death is associated with the development of cancer and with therapeutic resistance, while too much or too sensitive cell death is associated with inflammatory and degenerative diseases. This implies that depending on the particulars of cell death in a given disease, novel therapeutic strategies could be envisioned that either that either sensitize or desensitize cell death pathway. However, in order to do so, a deep knowledge is required not only of the cell death pathway but also on the molecular mechanism that regulates these cell death pathways.
Sehamuddin Galadari's laboratory studies on the molecular signaling network in various forms of cell death (such as apoptosis, autophagy, necroptosis and ferroptosis), with the prime focus on tumor suppressor protein prostate apoptosis repose-4 (Par-4), and tumor suppressor lipid ceramide that selectively destroy wide variety of cancer cells via programmed cell death.
The lab works closely with many other groups all over the world and uses a combination of biochemical, molecular and genetic approaches to generate fundamental knowledge. The goal is that this research will lead to pharmacologically and clinically relevant results.
