Regular biography
Michael B. Yaffe is a Fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, affiliated with the Department of Biology. His research focuses on understanding how signaling pathways are integrated at the molecular and systems levels to control cellular responses, particularly in the context of cancer and cancer therapy. He studies signaling networks that regulate cell cycle progression and DNA damage responses, as well as the cross-talk between inflammation, cytokine signaling, and cancer. His work explores how modular protein domains and kinases function together to build molecular signaling circuits and how this knowledge can inform the design of drug combinations for personalized disease treatment.
Scholar-generated biography
Michael Yaffe is a Professor of Biology & Biological Engineering at MIT, known for his research on the molecular mechanisms of cell signaling and phosphoproteomics. His work focuses on understanding how phosphorylation regulates protein interactions and cellular responses to DNA damage. Yaffe's research includes the structural basis of 14-3-3: phosphopeptide binding, the role of MDC1 in DNA repair, and the regulation of mTORC1 in growth factor signaling. He has also explored the function of TAZ in stem cell differentiation and the role of BRCT repeats in phosphopeptide binding. His studies contribute to understanding how post-translational modifications coordinate cellular processes.