Nikola Pavletich

Nikola Pavletich is a Professor at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's Structural Biology Program. His research focuses on structural mechanisms of cancer-related pathways.

• Stephen and Barbara Friedman Chair
• HHMI Investigator
• Affiliated with Tri-Institutional PhD Program in Chemical Biology

Education:

• PhD in Biochemistry, Johns Hopkins University

Research Focus

Dr. Pavletich investigates structural biology of cancer pathways through:

• mTOR signaling in cell growth regulation
• Fanconi Anemia pathway for DNA repair
• Homologous recombination mechanisms
• ATR/ATM checkpoint kinases
• Structural characterization of kinase inhibitors

Scientific Contributions

Key achievements:

• National Academy of Sciences member
• First high-resolution mTOR structures (PDB: 4JSN, 4JSP, 4JSV)
• Elucidated rapamycin inhibition mechanism
• Discovered DNA clamp function of FAN1 complex
• Defined mTORC1 activation by RHEB

Lab Structure

His lab includes:

• Yehuda Goldgur - X-ray Crystallography Core Facility
• Haijuan Yang - Senior Research Scientist
• Multiple research fellows and technicians