Andrei Karginov, PhD

Dr. Andrei Karginov is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pharmacology at the University of Illinois College of Medicine. His research focuses on the development of new synthetic biology tools for manipulation and interrogation of signaling pathways. He has previously 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 has also expanded this technology further to achieve manipulation of individual signaling cascades downstream of a specific kinase. His laboratory continues to utilize protein engineering methods to develop new methods for light- and drug-mediated regulation of other signaling and metabolic proteins.His training and experience in different areas of cell and molecular biology, chemistry, and biochemistry allows him to employ a wide variety of approaches to achieve my scientific goals. Dr. Karginovs ability to successfully conduct research projects at the interface of synthetic biology, protein engineering and cell biology is documented by peer-reviewed publications. Currently, he is supervising a group of 3 graduate students, 2 postdoctoral trainees and a technician who are capable of successfully supporting the participating laboratories in completing the proposed research.His research is focused on the development of novel tools for interrogation of signaling pathways in living cells.