Jennifer Wilson, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, UC Los Angeles, Using protein protein interaction networks to anticipate drug effects

Speaker:

Jennifer Wilson, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor of Bioengineering                                                      

UC Los Angeles

Faculty Host: Carolyn Mills

Title: Using protein protein interaction networks to anticipate drug effects

Abstract:

Already, we understand that drugs can have multiple effects on disease symptoms and side-effects, and further that they often act through on- and off- target protein binding. Yet these properties are not routinely considered during drug target prioritization. Protein-protein interaction networks are an ideal scaffold for understanding how drugs can simultaneously affect multiple proteins and induce multiple downstream outcomes. Currently, these network models lack sufficient characterization to be used predictively in drug design or to be applied in diseases without existing treatment options. In the Lab for Understanding Network Effects (LUNE), we are leveraging multiple data sources - published high throughput screens and observational studies in the health record - to identify high priority network edges and learn quantitative relationships between network edges. In this presentation, I will describe how drug classes derived from network proteins anticipate drug combination effects and support novel therapeutic targets. 

Bio:

Dr. Jennifer L. Wilson is an Assistant Professor at the UCLA Department of Bioengineering. With the Lab for the Understanding of Network Effects (LUNE), Dr. Wilson studies how proteins downstream of drug targets affect drug-induced phenotypes – the ability to mitigate disease or cause side effects. The lab aims to develop engineering principles for rationally designing novel drug targets by accounting for downstream protein effects. Prior to coming to UCLA, Dr. Wilson earned a B.S. in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Virginia, she was an NSF Graduate Fellow with Doug Lauffenburger at M.I.T., and recently completed a CERSI fellowship in Regulatory Science (with Russ Altman) and SPARK fellowship (with Kevin Grimes) at Stanford University.