Ashleigh Pulkoski-Gross is a graduate
student pursuing a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology at Stony Brook
University. She obtained her B.S. in
Biological Sciences from Saint Joseph’s College in New York and her M.S. in Biological
Sciences from Saint John’s University in New York. Ashleigh is beginning to study the process of
invasion and metastasis of cancer in the context of identifying particular
inhibitors for proteases, specifically MT1-MMP, by way of high-throughput screening. Her current work also includes defining the
interaction motif within the cell surface glycoprotein CD44 that interacts with
MT1-MMP. The interaction between CD44
and MT1-MMP has been shown to increase migration in cancer cells and
determining the region of interaction between the two proteins may allow for
development of novel inhibitors that interfere with cell migration.
Publications:
Zarrabi, K., Dufour, A., Li, J., Kuscu, C., Pulkoski-Gross, A., Zhi, J., Hu, Y.,
Sampson, N., Zucker, S., Cao, J. (2011)
Inhibition of matrix metalloproteinase-14 (MMP-14)-mediated cancer cell
migration. Journal of Biological Chemistry 286: 33167-33177.
Li,
J., Zucker, S., Pulkoski-Gross, A., Kuscu, C., Karaayvaz, M., Ju, J., Yao, H.,
Song, E., Cao, J. (2012) Conversion of
Stationary to Invasive Tumor Initiating Cells (TICs): Role of Hypoxia in
Membrane Type 1-Matrix Metalloproteinase (MT1-MMP) Trafficking. PLoS
One 7(6): e38403. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0038403
Ashleigh Pulkoski-Gross is a graduate
student pursuing a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cellular Pharmacology at Stony Brook
University. She obtained her B.S. in
Biological Sciences from Saint Joseph’s College in New York and her M.S. in Biological
Sciences from Saint John’s University in New York. Ashleigh is beginning to study the process of
invasion and metastasis of cancer in the context of identifying particular
inhibitors for proteases, specifically MT1-MMP, by way of high-throughput screening. Her current work also includes defining the
interaction motif within the cell surface glycoprotein CD44 that interacts with
MT1-MMP. The interaction between CD44
and MT1-MMP has been shown to increase migration in cancer cells and
determining the region of interaction between the two proteins may allow for
development of novel inhibitors that interfere with cell migration. 