Awarded in 2024
Home Department: Chemistry
Faculty Advisors: Steven Banik (Chemistry) and Michael Bassik (Genetics)

Research Title: Silent Programming: Discovery and Characterization of the Onco-Interactome with Cell-Based Interaction Sensors and CRISPR Genetic Screening

Pan-tumor genetic data has begun to annotate the onco-interactome: a rich network of tumor-driving mutations that rewire cellular programming via loss-of- and gain-of-function protein-protein interactions (PPIs). But without a universal phenotype and with limitations in cellular PPI sensing, the majority of these “onco-PPIs” have gone uncharacterized and potentially undiscovered entirely. Ratiometric sensing and advances in cell engineering techniques in cellulo create unique ways to study PPIs in relevant physiologies. This project proposes the development of an interdisciplinary synthetic biology and genetics platform in order to 1) identify onco-form specific protein interaction networks and 2) discover the cellular regulators and genetic determinants of onco-PPI formation in throughput. In doing so, the Banik lab hopes to increase our understanding of how the cell rewires in cancer and the distinct pathways in which it does so to further potential approaches in precision medicine.