Dr. Jeroen Roelofs

Area of study: Division of Biology
Email: jroelofs@ksu.edu
Website: Homepage

“To remain healthy and functional, it is essential for cells to remove damaged and unwanted proteins. Many such proteins are degraded by the proteasome. Concurrently, the proteasome plays an important role in several cancers; e.g. the proteasome inhibitor bortezomib has been used successfully in the treatment of multiple myeloma. We are interested in understanding how all 66 subunits of the proteasome form a complex and how this complex degrades proteins. We identified several proteins (chaperones) that assist in the assembly of the proteasome. One of these chaperones is an oncogene overexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma. Results from our work will hopefully lead to new and more specific drug targets for the treatment of the different cancers.”