Adam W. Smith, Ph.D
Associate Professor
Texas Tech University Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Email: aw.smith@ttu.edu
Cancer Research Interests: Receptor tyrosine kinases, cell signaling, and effects of oncogenic variants of uncertain significance
Biography
Dr Smith's research interests are on the chemical interactions that regulate cell signaling in the plasma membrane. Membrane proteins are the primary target of pharmaceutical compounds, but their chemical environment is poorly understood. This is mainly due to the diversity of lipid and protein species in the plasma membrane and their complex organization. Determining how these chemical interactions control membrane protein function and ultimately cell behavior is still at an early stage, with many important discoveries yet to be made. The approach in the Smith Lab is to measure lipid-protein and protein-protein interactions with time-resolved fluorescence microscopy. Membrane protein oligomerization is probed in live cells and lipid-protein interactions are studied in model membranes. This work is inherently interdisciplinary; a physical/analytical chemistry perspective and methodology is combined with biochemistry and molecular biology to investigate the chemical details of cell signaling.See full biography.