Alan Rapraeger
PhD
Professor Emeritus - Cancer Biology
Biography
I was a professor in the Department of Radiation Medicine and the executive director of the UW–Madison Office of Postdoctoral Studies. Members of my laboratory sought to discover novel signaling mechanisms through which cell adhesion regulates the activation and signaling of receptor tyrosine kinases in cancer and to develop new therapeutics that target these mechanisms. Our focus was on the syndecan (Sdc) family of cell-matrix receptors. The syndecans act as organizers of receptor complexes containing integrins and receptor tyrosine kinases (EGFR, IGF1R, VEGFR2 and others) that drive tumorigenesis and tumor angiogenesis. We developed synstatins (SSTNs), therapeutic peptides that are highly effective inhibitors of these processes in vitro and in vivo and block tumor growth, survival and invasion and the angiogenesis upon which tumors depend.
Research interests
- Breast Cancer
- Multiple Myeloma
- Head and Neck Cancer
- Immunotherapy
Education
- Postdoctoral Scholar, Stanford University, Developmental Biology
- PhD, University of California–Berkeley, Zoology/Developmental Biology
- BS, University of Oregon, Biology