Kevan M. Shokat
KevanM.Shokat,ProfessorofUniversityofCaliforniaSanFrancisco,SanFrancisco,U.S.A.Researchinhislaboratoryisfocusedonthediscoveryofnewchemicalbasedtoolstodeciphercellularsignalingnetworkswithanemphasisonproteinkinasesandmorerecently,GTPases.Theanalysisofsignaltransductionpathwayshasprovenchallengingusingthetraditionaltoolsofbiochemistry,genetics,andchemistry.Biochemicalapproachesareoftenlimitedinutilitybecausesignalingnetworksspanfromthecellsurfacetothecontroloftranscriptionandtranslation,confoundingreconstitutioneffortsfrompurifiedproteins.Geneticapproachesallowspecificperturbationofsinglecomponentsinanintactcellororganism,yetareoftenconfoundedbytheemergentpropertiesofsignalingcascades.Chemicalandpharmacologicalapproachesenablerapid,reversible,andgraded(dose-dependent)inactivationofsinglecomponentsinintactcellsororganisms.Unfortunately,highlyselectivechemicalprobes(agonists,antagonists,traceablesubstrates,etc.)ofproteinkinasesaredifficulttodevelopbecausethe500proteinkinasessharehighlyhomo