Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Member Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center
Director, Cancer Biology Graduate Program
Primary Appointment: Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Director, Cancer Biology Graduate Program
Biography
Dr. Landgraf earned his master's in Biochemistry in 1990 at the University of Tuebingen, Germany with additional research time in Enzymology at Queen Mary College, London. He received his PhD in Physiological Chemistry in 1995 at UCLA working on molecular recognition in Protein-DNA interactions, and he did a postdoc in structural studies and computational protein work with David Eisenberg. He started as faculty in Hematology-Oncology at UCLA in 2001 working on ERBB2/3 signaling in breast cancer and joined the Department of Biochemistry and SCCC at UM in 2008. Dr. Landgraf has served as director of the Cancer Biology Graduate program since 2016.
Education & Training
Education
1995: University of California, Los Angeles, CA
PhD, Biological Chemistry
1990: Eberhardt Karls Universitaet, Tuebingen, Germany
MS, Physiological Chemistry (5 year degree plus 1 year Thesis Project)
Post Graduate Training
2001: University of California, Los Angeles, CA
Post-Doctoral Fellowship, Protein Structure Function Analysis, Bioinformatics
1995: Merck Academic Development Program
Post-Doctoral Fellowship
Honors & Awards
No result found
Teaching Interests
Biochemistry classes at the Undergraduate and Master's levelCancer Biology classes relevant to signaling and drug development.
Research Interests
Dr. Landgraf’s research focuses on mechanistic and molecular interaction studies in the context of cancer signaling. For many years, this has emphasized signaling by receptor tyrosine kinases, especially ERBB3 and ERBB2. This included the role of various receptor association and activation states with regard to sensitivity or resistance to treatment with Herceptin, receptor maturation processes, and the role of the immediate membrane context in signal modulation. This work also pioneered the development and use of aptamers as functional probes. In recent years, the focus has shifted towards GPCR signaling in DLBCL, specifically roles of SMO that contribute to drug resistance and that are not part of the established modes of receptor function, as well as the bidirectional regulation of signaling relevant membrane components. This work continues to be mechanistic in nature.
Publications
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