Fruman Lab

The focus of research in the Fruman Lab is signal transduction in lymphocytes and leukemia cells. Our long-term goal is to define signaling components whose function is specific to particular immune cell types or responses. Our rationale is that such components could prove useful as therapeutic targets for immunological diseases and cancer. Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) and the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) are two signaling enzymes that have well-established roles in control of growth and survival of both normal and cancer cells. The PI3K/mTOR pathway is complex, with many inputs, outputs and feedback loops. Work in our laboratory is divided into two general areas: (1) Specificity of PI3K signaling in immune cells; (2) Targeting the PI3K/mTOR pathway in leukemia and autoimmune diseases.