Andrei Karginov, PhD

Andrei Karginov, PhD, is Associate Professor of Pharmacology in the Department of Pharmacology and Regenerative Medicine at UIC. He joined UIC in 2012. The Karginov laboratory focuses on the development of synthetic biology tools for manipulation and interrogation of signaling pathways. The laboratory developed a novel strategy for transient activation of kinases, and they developed a new strategy enabling transient kinase activation in living cells. Previously, he developed a novel broadly applicable strategy for engineered activation of protein kinases in living cells. This method provides high specificity and tight temporal control of kinase activity. He further expanded this technology to achieve manipulation of individual signaling cascades downstream of a specific kinase. His training and experience in different areas of cell and molecular biology, chemistry and biochemistry allow him to employ a wide variety of approaches to achieve his scientific goals. His ability to successfully conduct research projects at the interface of synthetic biology, protein engineering and cell biology is documented by peer-reviewed publications.