Damon Runyon Researchers

Proteins found on the surface of cells are key agents in cancer progression, as they play a role in cell signaling and metastasis. Targeted protein degradation has emerged as a therapeutic strategy to modulate what are considered “undruggable” proteins. Specifically, lysosomal-targeting protein degradation (LTPD), which uses the cancer cell’s own degradation machinery to break down proteins, has demonstrated therapeutic potential. However, the proteins targeted for LTPD have been limited to a few well-studied membrane and extracellular proteins, leaving much still unknown about the breadth of proteins that can be targeted for degradation and the features of a target protein that determine LTPD efficacy. Dr. Floyd [HHMI Fellow] aims to systematically characterize the features of cell surface proteins that drive the efficacy of LTPD with the goal of identifying new targets for blood cancer treatment. Dr. Floyd received his PhD from University of Texas at Austin, Austin and his BS from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo.