Affiliation: The University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics

Dr. Dharini van der Hoeven is an Assistant Dean for Academic Affairs at the University of Iowa College of Dentistry and Dental Clinics, Iowa. Earlier she was an Associate Professor in the Department of Diagnostic and Biomedical Sciences at The University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston-School of Dentistry. She received her PhD in Pharmacology and Toxicology from the Medical College of Wisconsin and completed a post-doctoral fellowship at the UTHealth McGovern Medical School. Research in Dr. van der Hoeven’s lab focuses on the pharmacological alteration of plasma membrane lipid topology to inhibit the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) and Ras proteins as a therapeutic strategy for the treatment of cancers, primarily oral squamous cell carcinomas (OSCC). EGFR and H-Ras are two commonly mutated proteins in OSCC. Signaling of EGFR, a transmembrane tyrosine kinase receptor, is amplified in 90% of OSCC due to overexpression and/or constitutive activation of the receptor. In addition, H-Ras, a plasma membrane-associated GTPase that serves as the downstream effector of EGFR, is mutated in 10% of OSCC. Therefore, EGFR and H-Ras proteins in the context of OSCC have emerged as major targets requiring therapeutic designs that will effectively block their signaling in clinical settings. Cholesterol binding is hardwired into EGFR and H-Ras anchoring to the PM such that reducing PM cholesterol content is a viable and novel strategy to abrogate their function.