PhD Defence A.V. (Alessandra) de Sousa Faria

Phosphorylation, one of the most common-post translational modification of proteins, is tightly regulated by enzymatic activity of kinases and phosphatases. The crossroad of phosphatase and kinase signaling regulates cellular survival, proliferation, differentiation, metabolism, and cytoskeletal signaling and determines cellular fitness. The focus of this thesis was the role of reversible phosphorylation in the diverse aspects of cellular responses in cancer; ranging from drug resistance, metabolic responses and cancer cell interaction with blood platelets to promote tumor cell proliferation. Kinase signaling may play unexpected roles in cancer drug resistance, suggesting that a better use of available kinase inhibitors may improve the treatment of cancer. Nevertheless, with more and more evidence suggesting that phosphatases play a stronger role in carcinogenesis than previously anticipated and current medicine still losing the battle against cancer, exploring this class of enzymes as druggable targets could present a step forward in the treatment of these as yet lethal and debilitating diseases.

Due to corona, the PhD defences do not take place publicly in the usual way in the Senate Hall of the Professor Andries Querido Room. The candidates will defend their dissertation either in a small group or online.