Dr. Roman has longstanding interest in cellular signaling initiated by G-protein coupled receptors and the regulation of those signaling pathways. In addition, the Roman lab has utilized high throughput screening technologies to investigate chemical libraries at novel targets for therapeutic discovery. The connection to the EHSRC is in the application of high throughput technologies to toxicology, through the identification of targets impacted by established and emerging contaminants. Currently, the Roman lab using these techniques to: (1) Interrogate per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) against a focused set of GPCRs to identify PFAS-GPCR relationships that mediate effects of PFAS exposure, (2) Conduct a comprehensive screen of various contaminants against the ‘druggable’ GPCR-ome, to discover unpredictable contaminant-GPCR pairs, and finally (3) characterize the newly identified contaminant-GPCR pairs in detail regarding their impact on receptor pharmacology, and cellular consequences. Overall our goals are to (1) identify GPCR-mediated effects of contaminants, (2) discover specific targets engaged/impacted by environmentalcontaminants, and (3) characterizing molecular mechanisms of contaminant exposure in the relevant context of cellular consequences.
Center research affiliation: Systemic Redox and Toxicology (SART)