Researchers

Robert Stahelin, Ph.D.

Robert Stahelin, Ph.D.

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry
Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Indiana University School of Medicine-South Bend

Contact Information

Biography

Professor Stahelin received his B.S. degree in biochemistry in 1998 from the University of Illinois-Chicago.  He earned his Ph.D. degree in 2003 in chemistry also from the University of Illinois-Chicago where he studied the relationships between structure and function in protein-membrane interactions.  During subsequent postdoctoral work he investigated the cellular targeting mechanisms of a number of enzymes, which play a role in the etiology of cancer.  In 2006, he joined the faculty of Indiana University School of Medicine and the University of Notre Dame as assistant professor.

Research Interests

Professor Stahelin’s research interests focus on the activation and regulation of peripheral proteins.  Peripheral proteins transiently interact with biological membranes in response to a variety of stimuli. Of particular interest is the Protein Kinase C family (PKC), a family of serine/threonine kinases typically activated by the lipid second messenger diacylglycerol and for some isoforms by Ca2+.  His research group is chiefly interested in investigating the diverse membrane-targeting regulatory mechanisms of individual isoforms in both healthy and cancerous cells.  PKCs have been implicated in breast, lung, colon, and prostate cancer among others and are thought to be a therapeutic avenue to a treatment of these diseases.

Publications

Stahelin RV, Karathanassis D, Bruzik KS, Waterfield MD, Bravo J, Williams RL, Cho W. Structural and membrane binding analysis of the Phox homology domain of phosphoinositide 3-kinase-C2alpha. J Biol Chem 2006; 281: 393936-39406. link

Lee S, Kovacs J, Stahelin RV, Cheever ML, Overduin M, Setty TG, Burd C, Cho W, Kutateladze TG. Molecular mechanism of membrane dociking by the Vam7p PX domain. J Biol Chem 2006; 281: 37091-37101. link

Cho W, Stahelin RV. Membrane binding and subcellular localization of C2 domains. Biochim Biophys Acta 2006; 1761: 838-849.

Bhardwaj N, Stahelin RV, Langois RE, Cho W, Lu H. Structural bioinformatics prediction of membrane-binding proteins. J Mol Biol 2006; 359: 486-495. link

Stahelin RV, Hwang JH, Kim JH, Park ZY, Johnson KR, Obeid LM, Chow W. The mechanism of the membrane targeting of human sphingosine kinase 1. J Biol Chem 2005; 280: 43030-43038. link

Cho W, Stahelin RV. Membrane-protein interactions in cell signaling and membrane trafficking. Annu Rev Biophys Biomol Struct 2005; 34: 119-151. link

Stahelin RV, Digman MA, Medkova M, Ananthanarayanan B, Melowic HR, Rafter JD, Cho W. Diacylglycerol-induced membrane targeting and activation of protein kinase C-epsilon: Mechanistic differences between protein kinase C-delta and epsilon. J Biol Chem 2005; 280: 19784-19793. link

Subramanian P, Stahelin RV, Szulc Z, Bielawska A, Cho W, Chalfant CE. Ceramide-1-phosphate acts as a positive allosteric activator of group IVA cytosolic phospholipase A2-alpha and enhances the interaction of the enzyme with phosphatidylcholine. J Biol Chem 2005; 280: 17601-17607. link

Stahelin RV, Digman MA, Medkova M, Ananthanarayanan B, Rafter JD, Melowic HR, Cho W. Mechanism of diacylglycerol-induced membrane targeting and activation of protein kinase C-delta. J Biol Chem 2004; 279: 29501-29512. link

Stahelin RV, Wang J, Blatner NR, Rafter JD, Murray D, Cho, W. The origin of C1A-C2 interdomain interactions of protein kinase C-alpha. J Biol Chem 2005; 280: 36452-36463. link

Cells