Welcome to the Solomon Lab

The long range goal of our lab is to understand biochemically how cell growth and division are regulated by checkpoints within the cell and by controls imposed from the surrounding tissues. The cyclin-dependent protein kinases (CDKs), whose activities are required for cell cycle transitions, are regulated via multiple mechanisms including specific association with a cyclin, multiple phosphorylations (both positive- and negative-acting), sensing of a threshold, and at least two feedback loops that combine to produce the precise and abrupt activation of protein kinase activity necessary for accurate cell cycle transitions. We study the protein kinases, phosphatases, and regulatory proteins that control CDKs. We also study the ubiquitin-mediated degradation of cyclins and other mitotic proteins and how this degradation is blocked by the Spindle-Assembly Checkpoint.