Kai Mao, PhD

Dr. Mao is studying the cell’s cytoskeleton, which provides the physical structure and shape of a cell. The cytoskeleton is an attractive target for cancer chemotherapy because of its central function in mitosis or cell division, but these chemotherapeutic agents have very high toxicity. He hypothesizes that the next generation of chemotherapy will benefit from the inhibition of these toxin response pathways. He will examine how cells respond to such drugs, with the goal of applying these findings to attenuate the drugs’ side effects.