Grant: Foundation Grant

Physical protein-protein interactions are instrumental to all biological processes, and hence human health, development and disease. While advances in genomics are providing valuable information about gene function, a key challenge is to understand how genetically-encoded proteins work together inside cells and how their interactions are perturbed in disease. My research program aims to characterize the protein interaction networks, and protein complexes, present in the various cells and tissues of the human body in different pathophysiological contexts. My work addresses fundamental biological questions that have major ramifications for the successful diagnosis and treatment of important human disorders, such as cardiovascular disease: How are protein interactions organized inside cells and organs? What are the features and principles that guide the formation and regulation of these protein interaction networks? How is the organization of these networks disrupted in human disease? Through our many discoveries, my program will generate valuable data resources, new clinical findings and promising new diagnostic and therapeutic tools relevant for the entire Canadian biomedical research community.