Who We Are

Assistant Professor, Cell and Molecular Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics

Dr. Peggi Angel's research is focused on understanding the spatial systems biology of human health – how molecular interactions change due to external, endogenous environmental and mechanical forces in normal development and in disease. The primary analytical research in her lab is focused on developing new approaches for deeper single cell sequencing of collagen structures, targeting signaling components of fibrotic deposition, and the application of these methods for human disease prognosis and diagnosis. The main biological research focus of her group is understanding how spatial changes in translational and post-translational collagen regulation contributes to breast cancer initiation and metastasis and impacts on cancer risk. She is the inventor of the spatial method targeting collagen on formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded tissues. The approach generates data that may be used not only to understand stroma regulation within the tumor microenvironment and circulating serum. Collagen biosignatures also be used as a predictive tool developing signatures that differentiate pathologies, patient status, and therapeutic response. She has published several papers using this method in various cancerous tissues. Her lab is focused on leveraging this approach to understand disparities in breast cancer, colorectal cancer, and outcomes in hepatocellular carcinoma.

Associate Professor

Focus: Cell cycle proteins in cancer progression

Wang Lab

Center Manager - Digestive Disease Research Core Center
leekh@musc.edu
843-792-0307

Professor

Dr. Lauren Ball's research focuses on defining the impact of the glucose-responsive, post-translational O-GlcNAc modification of adaptor proteins, transcription factors, and epigenetic regulators on cellular signaling and metabolic homeostasis. The activity of O-GlcNAc transferase, the enzyme responsible for protein O-GlcNAcylation, is elevated in many human cancers. Her lab is establishing LC-MS/MS-based methodology to identify the proteins (and sites therein) that are differentially regulated by O-GlcNAc, probe for cross-talk of O-GlcNAc with phosphorylation at Ser/Thr residues, and define the impact of O-GlcNAc on protein function and interactions in the context of breast cancer.

MUSC Mass Spectrometry Facility

Center for Redox Biology and Cell Signaling Proteomics Core

Since arriving at MUSC in 2011, I have strived to expand translational research opportunities within my department and throughout MUSC by combining clinical research, biorepository, and molecular pathology resources with an extensive biomedical proteomics and small molecule mass spectrometry facility. My primary research focus is in identifying glycoproteins, glycans, and glycolipids using human and animal model tissues and biofluids.

My laboratory developed the founding MALDI imaging mass spectrometry methodology to allow researchers worldwide to access N-glycosylation from the tissue microenvironment in both formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded and frozen tissues. The glycan tissue maps serve as guides to target tumor-localized glycoproteins for proteomic analysis, as well as provide molecular determinants for histopathology applications. This technology has recently been adapted and funded to develop tools to analyze cell lines, immune cells, and biofluids directly on slides. New research efforts are focused on developing new methods for investigating O-glycan, glycogen, and glycosaminoglycan oligomers, as well as expanding prior glycosphingolipid workflows.

My lab studies the role protein kinases and ubiquitin ligases in signal transduction and the regulation of tumor cell biology, particularly in the context of ovarian cancer, with collaborative projects in breast cancer. I have published works on the regulation of signaling through the ERK pathway by cell adhesion and how this regulation is disrupted in ovarian cancer cells, promoting anchorage-independent cancer cell survival and proliferation. Additionally, I have discovered novel substrates of ERK2, including the alternative mRNA splicing factor RBM17/SPF45 and identified SPF45 as the first splicing factor regulated by multiple MAP Kinase signaling cascades, with specificity dependent upon the extracellular stimulus.

My research efforts identified the E3 ubiquitin ligase UBR5/EDD as a novel substrate of ERK2. I am a member of the Gyn/Onc and Breast Cancer research teams in the Hollings Cancer Center. My work has been supported by the National Cancer Institute, the Department of Defense’s Breast and Ovarian Cancer Research Programs, the MUSC Center for Oral Health and the South Carolina Translational Research Institute. I am also heavily involved in Pharmacology teaching in the MUSC Dental and Medical Schools.

Professor

Focus: Cancer Drug Development

Tew Lab

Professor

Focus: Cancer Drug Development

Tew Lab