WELCOME TO THE PAPA|LAB

Research in the Papa lab is broadly focused on the understanding of the molecular mechanisms regulating programmed cell death and survival. The fields of programmed cell death have become the foundation of biomedical research, central to both fundamental biology and the understanding of a broad range of human diseases ranging from cancer to inflammatory and neurodegenerative diseases. At the molecular level, the group focus on the post-translational modifications, the study of the covalent modification of proteins during or after protein biosynthesis. Most of our efforts to date have concentrated on phosphorylation, which is one of the most fundamental types of post-translational modification in eukaryotic cells. We are interested in the regulation and activity of a group of serine/threonine (Ser/Thr) protein kinases known as c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNKs), master regulators of a large variety of cellular functions including apoptosis, differentiation, cell survival and proliferation.

When we succeed, we succeed because of our individual initiative, but also because we do things together

(Barack Obama)

Our Research Explained

....for 'specialists'

We focus our research on understanding the molecular mechanisms, regulation and role of apoptosis (i.e. programmed cell death) in pathogenesis, and translating these insights in therapeutic concepts and, if possible, novel treatments for human disease including cancer, inflammation and infectious disease.

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....for 'general audience'

Cancer is one of the scenarios where too little cell death occurs, resulting in malignant cells that will not die. Cancer cells are therefore cells that cheat death - rather than growing old and dying, as healthy cells do, they continue to grow and divide, changing their metabolism to continue proliferating throughout the body.

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