NAME: Tiffany Bell
 

PROJECT TITLE: Examination of Upregulation of Cytoplasmic Prohibitin in Cancerous Cells

Prohibitin is a ubiquitously expressed protein whose initial function was thought to be halting cell development and growth when the cell was under certain conditions. While its functions are still not fully understood, it is known to be an activator of other proteins that are responsible for normal growth and malignant transformation. It has been found in cell mitochondria membrane, in the nucleus, and on the cell surface. It has been highly evolutionarily conserved, suggesting its importance in the survival of organisms. As such, it appears that any sort of alteration of the protein could potentially have a large impact on cellular function. Though the gene that transcribes it has been mapped in cancerous and non-cancerous cells in an attempt to discover abnormalities, no one has examined the primary structure of prohibitin within cells. Using mass spectrometry, we will be examining prohibitin's primary structure in both cancerous and non-cancerous cells, in the belief that post-translational modifications of prohibitin may be responsible for a change in function of the protein.