Paramita M. Ghosh, Ph.D.
Dr. Ghosh’s chief topic of research over the last six years has been the elucidation of signal transduction pathways leading to the development of androgen-independent prostate cancer. Her current research is based on the initial observation that in poorly differentiated prostate cancers, Akt, a downstream target of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway, is highly phosphorylated. Based on these observations, she has investigated, over the last few years, the role of Akt in the progression of prostate cancer to an androgen-independent state. Currently, she is engaged in studying signal transduction pathways both upstream and downstream of Akt. Upstream of Akt, she is studying the effect of receptor tyrosine kinases and their effects on both the PI3K and the MAPK cell signaling pathways, while downstream of Akt, she is studying the cross-talk with the androgen receptor pathway, and the effects of aging on the development of prostate cancer. At present, her targets of investigation include the erbB family of receptor tyrosine kinases, the andogen receptor, the cytoskeletal scaffolding molecule Filamin A which is known to be an androgen receptor coregulator and components of the signal transduction pathways downstream of Ras (including the mitogen activated protein kinases) and the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), including p70 S6 kinase, 4E-BP1 and e1F-4G.