Alexandra C. Newton, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology Director, Cell Signaling San Diego
Alexandra C. Newton, Ph.D.
Distinguished Professor of Pharmacology
Director, Cell Signaling San Diego
Research Interests
Our lab focusses on the molecular mechanisms by which disruption of the balance between phosphorylation and dephosphorylation drives disease. We focus in particular on understanding how deregulated signaling by protein kinases and phosphatases is involved in cancer vs degenerative diseases. We are particularly interested in protein kinase C and related kinases such as Akt, and the protein phosphate PH domain Leucine rich repeat Protein Phosphatase PHLPP (pronounced ‘flip’).
Selected Publications
Lordén G, Wozniak JM, Doré K, Dozier LE, Cates-Gatto C, Patrick GN, Gonzalez DJ, Roberts AJ, Tanzi RE, Newton A.C. (2022) Enhanced activity of Alzheimer disease-associated variant of protein kinase Cα drives cognitive decline in a mouse model. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-34679-7. Nat Commun., 13(1):7200.
Pilo CA, Baffi TR, Kornev AP, Kunkel MT, Malfavon M, Chen DH, Rossitto LA, Chen DX, Huang LC, Longman C, Kannan N, Raskind WH, Gonzalez DJ, Taylor SS, Gorrie G, Newton A.C. (2022) Mutations in protein kinase Cγ promote spinocerebellar ataxia type 14 by impairing kinase autoinhibition. doi: 10.1126/scisignal.abk1147. Sci Signal., 15(753):eabk1147 (plus cover).
Baffi TR, Lordén G, Wozniak JM, Feichtner A, Yeung W, Kornev AP, King CC, Del Rio JC, M., Limaye, A. J., Wayland, Y., Bogomolovas, J., Gould, C. M., Chen, J., Kannan, N., Kennedy, E. J., Gonzalez, D. J., Stefan, E., Taylor, S. S., and Newton, A. C. (2021). mTORC2 Controls PKC and Akt via Phosphorylation of a Conserved TOR-Interaction Motif. Sci. Sign., 14, eabe4509.
Kawashima, A. T., Wong, C., King, C.C., Lara-Gonzalez, P., Desai, A., Gingras, A.C., and Newton, A. C. (2021). The PHLPP1 N-Terminal Extension is a Mitotic Cdk1 Substrate and Controls and Interactome Switch. Mol. Cell Bio. 41 (3):e00333-20
Baffi, T. R., Van, A. N., Zhao, W., Mills, G. B., and Newton, A. C. (2019) Protein Kinase C Quality Control by Phosphatase PHLPP1 Unveils Loss-of-Function Mechanism in Cancer. Mol. Cell, 74, 378-392.
Antal, C. E., Hudson, A. M., Kang, E., Zanca, C., Wirth, C., Stephenson, N. L., Trotter, E. W., Gallegos, L. L., Miller, C. J., Furnari, F. B., Hunter, T., Brognard, J., Newton, A. C. (2015). Cancer-Associated Protein Kinase C Mutations Reveal Kinase’s Role as Tumor Suppressor. Cell 160, 489-502.